This article is about a framework for determining the degree of realism of any given 1 passenger ride motion discomfort measurement formula. After providing some context and reviewing 2 evidence of deficiency in currently popular ride motion discomfort measurement formulas, the article 3 outlines the research program that needs to be carried out in order to establish such a framework. 4 The research begins with gathering recordings of uncomfortable ride motion episodes encountered in 5 a chosen type of passenger transport service. It then has test subjects compare the episodes via a ride 6 motion simulator and adjust their amplitudes pair wise until they cause equal discomfort. It explains 7 how to take the pair wise amplitude adjustments and determine amplitude adjustments that bring all 8 of the motion episode recordings to a common level of discomfort so that they form a normalized set. 9 Then, the lower the scatter of the scores assigned by any given discomfort measurement formula to 10 the members of that set, the more realistic that formula will be for the chosen service.

In this work, an algorithm was developed to measure the respiration rate for an embedded device that can be used by a field robot for relief operation. With this algorithm, the rate measurement was calculated based on direct influences of respiratory-induced intensity variation (RIIV) on blood flow in cardiovascular pathways. For that, a photoplethysmogram (PPG) sensor was used to determine changes in heartbeat frequencies. The PPG sensor readings were filtered using an Information Filter and a Fast Fourier transform (FFT) to determine the state of RIIV. With a relatively light initialization, the information filter can estimate unknown variables based on a series of measurements containing noise and other inaccuraties. Therefore, this filter is suitable for application on an embedded device. For faster calculation time in the implementation, the FFT analysis was calculated only for a major peak in the frequency domain. Test and measurement of respiration rate was conducted based on the device algorithm and spirometer. Heartbeat measurement was also evaluated by comparing the heartbeat data of the PPG sensor and the medical tool kit. Based on the test, the implemented algorithm can measure respiration rate with about 80% accuracy compared with the spirometer.

This study investigates the vertical structure of the dynamical properties of a warm-core ring in the Gulf of Mexico (Loop Current ring) using glider observations. We introduce a new method to correct the glider’s along-track coordinate which is, in general, biased by the unsteady relative movements of the glider and the eddy, yielding large errors on horizontal derivatives. Here, we take advantage of the synopticity of satellite along-track altimetry to apply corrections on the glider’s position, by matching in situ steric height with satellite-measured sea surface height. This relocation method allows to recover the eddy’s azimuthal symmetry, to precisely estimate the rotation axis position, and to compute reliable horizontal derivatives. It is shown to be particularly appropriate to compute the eddy’s cyclo-geostrophic velocity, relative vorticity, and shear strain, which are otherwise out of reach when using the glider’s raw traveled distance as an horizontal coordinate. The Ertel potential vorticity (PV) structure of the warm core ring is studied in details, and we show that the PV anomaly is entirely controlled by vortex stretching. Sign reversal of the PV gradient across the water column suggests that the ring might be baroclinically unstable. The PV gradient is also largely controlled by gradients of the vortex stretching term. We also show that the ring’s total energy partition is strongly skewed, with available potential energy being 3 times larger than kinetic energy. The possible impact of this energy distribution on the Loop Current rings longevity is also discussed.

Determining the estrous cycle stages in mice is essential for optimizing breeding strategies, synchronizing experimental time lines, and facilitating studies in behavior, drug testing, and genetics. It is critical for reducing the production of genetically unmodified offspring in the generation and investigation of genetically modified animal models. An accurate detection of the estrus cycle is particularly relevant in the context of the 3Rs—Replacement, Reduction and Refinement. The estrous cycle, encompassing the reproductive phases of mice, is key to refining experimental designs and addressing ethical issues related to the use of animals in research. This study presents results from two independent laboratories on the efficacy of the Mouse Estrus Detector (MED) from Elmi Ltd. (Latvia) for the accurate determination of the estrus phase. The female mice of five strains/stocks (CD1, FVB/N, C57Bl6/J, B6D2F1, and Swiss) were used. The results showed that the MEDProTM is a low -traumatic, simple, rapid and painless method of estrus detection that supports the principles of the 3Rs. The use of the MEDProTM for estrus detection in mice caused minimal stress, enhanced mating efficiency, facilitated an increase in the number of embryos for the in vitro fertilization and allowed the production of the desired number of foster animals.

Previous high throughput screening studies indicated trans-eQTLs tend to be tissue specific. In this study, I probed if this feature can be used to identify tissue-specific gene regulatory networks. eQTL data (P<5e-8) for 16,259 genes were identified and their summary association statistics were obtained from the eQTLGene database. Next, eQTLs that display both cis and trans regulatory effects were selected and the association between their corresponding genes were examined using Mendelian randomization. A total of 169 genes that exerted trans-regulatory impacts on 692 genes were identified. 90% of the genes (N=749) aggregated into a gene regulatory network significantly enriched in hemo-immune processes. The robustness of finding was confirmed through simulation. The identified network displayed the scale-free topology. This provided the reason to examine the association of the network’s hub genes with the phenome. The outcome of analyses revealed GSDMB and ORMDL3 impact several disorders of immune origin and ALDH2 overexpression contributes to obesity. This study reports trans-eQTLs can be used to identify tissue-specific gene regulatory networks and describes a workflow to achieve this purpose. The network identified in this study showed scale-free topology indicating the hub genes of a GRN could be targeted to prevent disease outcomes.

Background: G6PD is a rate-limiting enzyme of the pentose phosphate pathway. The loss of G6PD activity in red blood cells exposes to the risk of acute haemolytic anaemia under oxidative stress, induced by infections, some medications, or fava beans. More than 200 single missense mutations are known in the G6PD gene. This study reports a 41-year-old woman coming from Basilicata region (Italy) that carried out the G6PD status in our hospital for prenatal investiga-tions. Methods: DNA was extracted from peripheral blood sample and genotyped for common-est G6PD pathogenic variants (PVs). Positive results obtained by Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP), as per practice in our laboratory, are then re-confirmed in Sanger se-quencing. Results: RFLP analysis highlighted a variant compatible with G6PD Cassano variant. Confirmatory testing by Sanger unexpectedly identified a novel variant: c.1357G>A, p.(Val453Met) (NM_001360016.2). In silico models predicted a deleterious effect of this variant at the protein level. The novel G6PD variant was named "G6PD Potenza", on the basis of the pa-tient's regional origin. Conclusion: This case describes a novel G6PD variant. It also highlights how the Sanger sequencing technique still represents an indispensable confirmatory standard method for variants that could be miss-interpreted by using of “first-level” approached, as the RFLP. We stress that the evaluation of clinical manifestations in G6PD deficient patients is of primary importance for the classification of each new G6PD mutation, in agreement with the new WHO guidelines.

Certain micronutrients exhibit immunomodulatory effects. However, no intervention has yet investigated the effect of an individualized supplementation on the severity of upper respiratory tract infections (URI). Therefore, we investigated whether a personalized supplementation moderates the incidence and severity of URI. Selenium, zinc, and vitamin D was measured from 59 healthy participants ) in dried blood spots. Accordingly, a personalized supplement was provided with or without the respective micronutrients. We used WURSS-21 questionnaires to assess the disease status. The blood values converged during the intervention and micronutrients no longer differed at the end of the intervention period between treated and untreated volunteers. The incidence and severity of the illness did not significantly differ between the groups. However, when analyzing the WURSS-21 score by the intention to treat, the initially randomized treatment arm revealed a significantly higher score than the placebo arm. Upon acute administration, individualized combination of selenium, zinc and vitamin D does not reduce the number or contribute to a milder course of URIs. Therefore, supplementation in acute infectious situations seems questionable. Further studies must address the habitual diet in more detail to better understand the impact of individual micronutrient status on the prevention of URI.

Evapotranspiration is a critical component of the hydrological cycle, and it has a decisive impact on the ecosystem balance in arid and semi-arid regions. The Yinchuan Plain, located in the Gobi of Northwest China, has a strong surface ET. In order to assess the ET pattern in this region, we obtained the ETa of Yinchuan Plain between 1987 and 2020 using the GEE platform. We employed the Surface Energy Balance Model (SEBAL), specifically geeSEBAL, to analyze the change pattern of ET over different seasons, years, and land types. The results show that: ① In spring, the daily ETa of the Yinchuan Plain is highest in the central lake wetland area, with a maximum value of 4.32 mm day-1. In summer, it is concentrated around the croplands and water bodies, with a maximum value of 6.90 mm day-1; In Autumn and winter, it is mainly concentrated around the water bodies and impervious areas, with maximum values of 3.93 and 1.56 mm day-1, respectively. ② From 1987 to 2020, the ET of the Yinchuan Plain showed an obvious upward and downward trend in some areas with significant land use changes, but the overall ET of the region remained relatively stable without dramatic fluctuations. ③ The evapotranspiration of different underlying land use types in the Yinchuan Plain region is as follows: water body&gt;cultivated land&gt;impervious&gt;grassland&gt;bare land. Our results showed that geeSEBAL is highly applicable in the Yinchuan Plain area. It allows for the accurate and detailed inversion of ET in the study area, which facilitates the study of regional hydrological cycle and water governance.

Fission-track modelling rests on etching, counting and measuring the lattice damage trails from uranium fission. The tools for interpreting fission-track data are advanced but the results are never better than the data. Confined-track samples must be an adequate size for statistical analysis, representative of the track population, consistent with the model assumptions and with the calibration data. Geometrical and measurement biases are understood and can be dealt with up to a point. The interrelated issues of etching protocol and track selection are however more difficult to untangle. Our investigation favours a two-step protocol. The duration of the first step is inversely proportional to the apatite etch rate, so that different apatites etch to the same Dpar. A long immersion reveals many more confined tracks, terminated by basal and prism faces. This allows consistent length measurements and permits to orient each track relative to the c-axis. Long immersion times combined with deep ion irradiation reveal confined tracks deep inside the grains. Provided it is long enough, the precise immersion time is not important if the effective etch times of the selected tracks are calculated from their measured widths. Then, whether the sample is mono- or multi-compositional, we can, post hoc, select tracks with the desired properties. The second part of the protocol has to do with the fact that fossil tracks in geological samples appear to be under-etched compared to induced tracks etched under the same conditions. This should be assumed if the semi-axes (l_C, l_A) of a fitted ellipse plot above the induced-track line. In that case an additional etch can increase the track lengths to a point where they are consistent with the model based on lab-annealing of induced tracks, a condition for valid thermal histories. Here too, it is possible to select a subset with effective etch times consistent with the model if the widths of confined tracks are measured along with their lengths and orientations.

In this work, new refinements of some numerical radius inequalities are proved. Namely, new improvements and refinements purify the recent inequalities of some famous inequalities concerning the numerical radius of Hilbert space operators. The proven inequalities in this work are not only an improvement over old inequalities, but rather they are stronger than them. Several examples that support the validity of our results are established as well.

The recent Planck Legacy release confirmed the existence of an enhanced lensing amplitude in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) power spectra, which endorses the positive curvature of the early Universe with a confidence level exceeding 99%. In this study, the pre-existing curvature is incorporated to extend the field equations where the derived wave function of the Universe is utilized to model Universe evolution with reference to the scale factor of the early Universe and its radius of curvature upon the emission of the CMB. The wave function reveals both positive and negative solutions, implying that matter and antimatter of early Universe plasma evolve in opposite directions as distinct Universe sides. The wave function indicates that a nascent hyperbolic expansion is followed by a first phase of decelerating expansion away from early plasma during the first 10 Gyr, and then, a second phase of accelerating expansion in reverse directions, whereby both Universe sides free-fall towards each other under gravitational acceleration. Simulations of the predicted conformal curvature evolution demonstrate the fast orbital speed of outer stars owing to the external fields exerted on galaxies as they travel through conformally curved space-time. Finally, the wave function predicts an eventual time-reversal phase comprising rapid spatial contraction that culminates in a Big Crunch, signalling a cyclic Universe. These findings reveal that early plasma could have separated and evolved into distinct sides that collectively and geometrically influencing the Universe evolution, physically explanting the effects attributed to dark matter and energy.

The genus Strophantus belongs to the Apocynaceae family of flowering plants which grows primarily in tropical Africa. The plants are widely used in traditional herbal medicine. S. sarmentosus, in particular, is used for the treatment of, e.g., joint pain and rheumatoid arthritis, wound infections, head lice, diarrhoea, snake bite, and eye conditions. Despite the widespread use, dedicated research characterizing bioactive plant components is scarce. Investigations focussed mainly on the cardenolides, because of their cardioactivity and historical use as cardiotonic. There are also studies concerning the antibacterial, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity of plant extracts. This review summarizes the present knowledge about the biochemical and analytical reserach on Strophantus, in general, and S. sarmentosus, in particular, and describes the current state-of-the-field based on the available sientific literature.

We investigate the existence and representation of the generalized core-EP inverse of some triangular matrices over a Banach algebra. Further, the general representations of the generalized core-EP inverse of a triangular matrix over a $C^*$-algebra are presented. As applications, the generalized core-EP inverses of some block operator matrices over Hilbert spaces are given.

We introduce a new generalized inverse which is a natural generalization of (pseudo) right core inverse in a Banach *-algebra. We characterize this generalized inverse by using right core and quasi-nilpotent decomposition. We then present its polar-like characterization and investigate related algebraic properties. Finally, the right core-EP inverse is characterized by certain new ways.

A reliable and efficient rail track defect detection system is essential for maintaining rail track integrity and avoiding safety hazards and financial losses. Eddy current (EC) testing is a non-destructive technique that can be employed for this purpose. The trade-off between spatial resolution and lift-off should be carefully considered in practical applications to distinguish closely spaced cracks such as those caused by rolling contact fatigue (RCF). A multi-channel eddy current sensor array has been developed to detect defects on rails. Based on the sensor scanning data, defect reconstruction along the rails is achieved using an inverse algorithm that includes both direct and iterative approaches. In experimental evaluations, the EC system with the developed sensor is used to measure defects on a standard test piece of rail with a probe lift-off of 4-6 mm. The reconstruction results clearly reveal cracks at various depths and spacings on the test piece.

Wastewater genomic surveillance is an efficient and economic approach to track infectious diseases and can help detect unusual epidemiological events. The current study uses this approach for the first time in Morocco to monitor the epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 and Influenza A, B and RSV virus infections during the third wave of COVID-19 caused by the Omicron variant. The virome was concentrated from wastewater collected from two sewer sheds of two cities, Agadir and Inezgane, using the PEG/NaCl method. The viral copy number was determined using qRT-PCR. All 26 samples in both cities were tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 at various viral loads. For Influenza A virus, two samples were tested positive in Inezgane. The estimated SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA copy numbers observed were then used to estimate the number of infected individuals using the SEIR model. The number of viral copies of SARS-CoV-2 for Agadir and Inezgane varied from 82932 ± 15479 to 507865 ± 58759 copies/L and 61244 ± 8552 to 497506 ± 18061 copies/L, respectively. The estimated number of cases correlates positively with the number of reported cases. Next Generation Sequencing showed that samples contain the following two variants: BA.1 and BA.2 that have been detected in clinical samples. This study demonstrates the effectiveness and feasibility of wastewater genomic surveillance in monitoring pathogens such as SARS-CoV-2 in Morocco.

In this brief paper we will propose a new equation for the proton charge radius. We will base our new equation on the Trinhammer-Bohr formula which states that the proton charge radius is directly proportional to the proton Compton wavelength. We will then propose a new equation for the proton Compton wavelength which is inversely proportional to the Rydberg constant and directly proportional to the running value of the fine structure constant on the protonic scale. This will define the proton charge radius only by the effective value of the fine structure constant and the Rydberg constant. This new equation also disproves the old value of the proton charge radius 0.877(50) which was measured by using electron-proton scattering and further solidifies the newer and smaller values 0.8414(19) provided by NIST.

In this work, some numerical radius inequalities based on the recent Dragomir extension of Furuta's inequality are obtained. Some particular cases are also provided.

Studies and opinion articles present unequal conclusions concerning empathy and morality, mainly because a somewhat heterogeneous and foggy conceptual approach prevails. This scoping review aims to analyse the relationship between empathy and morality and to present a novel conceptual model of empathy applied to moral decisions.A search in PsycINFO, Scopus and PubMed identified articles addressing the relationship between empathy and morality.Thirty-two articles were included. We find an absence of a consensual definition of empathy. It is commonly defined as a predominant emotional process and a factor of bias and prejudice in moral decisions.According to our conceptual model, empathy is a distinct, complex human neuropsychological capacity that mobilises and is dependent on the proper functioning of several brain areas and balances the scales on which are Emotion and Reason, enabling the most thoughtful moral decisions possible in diverse circumstances and contexts.

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

Wide bandgap semiconductors-based photocatalysts are usually limited by their low solar energy conversion efficiency due to their limited absorption solar wavelength, surface’s fast recombination of photoelectron–hole pairs and low charge-carrier mobility. Here we report a new stepwise solution synthesis for making a new photocatalytic core/shell of titanate nanowire/reduced graphene oxide shell (or titanate/rGO) 1D-nanocomposite. The new core/shell nanocomposite maximized the specific surface area, largely reduced the charge transfer resistance and reaction energy barrier, and significantly improved the absorption of the visible light. The core/shell nanocomposites’ large on/off current ratio and rapid photo-responses boosted the photocurrent by 30.0%, the photocatalysis rate by 50.0%, and the specific surface area by 16.4%, when comparing with the pure titanate nanowire core. Our numerical simulations support the effective charge separation on the new core-shell nanostructure, which can help further advance the new photocatalysis.

The superfamily of Acid proteases has two catalytic aspartates for proteolysis of their peptide substrates. Here, we show a minimal structural scaffold, the Structural Catalytic Core (SCC), which packs all conserved substructure elements around the catalytic machinery, and which can be found in all enzymes of the Acid proteases superfamily. The SCC is a dimer of several structural blocks, such as the DD-link, the D-loop and the G-loop, around two catalytic aspartates in each protease subunit or within an individual chain. The dimer of two D-loop/DD-link substructures makes a DD-zone, and the dimer of two D-loop/G-loop substructures makes a psi-loop. These structural markers are useful for protein comparison, structure identification, protein family separation and protein engineering.

There are many criterion to generalize the concept of numerical radius; one of the most recent interesting generalization is what so called the generalized Euclidean operator radius. Simply, it is the numerical radius of multivariable operators. In this work, several new inequalities, refinements and generalizations are established for this kind of numerical radius.

Pyrethroid pesticides (PYRs) as the third most widely used pesticides, following organophosphorus and carbamate pesticides, which are of significant importance in the analysis and detection of vegetables. However, the current pretreatment technology for PYRs confronts challenges of difficult separation and low enrichment efficiency, resulting in a cumbersome and time-consuming pretreatment process with poor selectivity. Here, a simple and efficient magnetic solid-phase extraction (MSPE) strategy was developed to simultaneously purify and enrich five PYRs in vegetables, with the magnetic covalent organic framework nanomaterial COF-SiO2@Fe3O4 as an adsorbent. The COF-SiO2@Fe3O4 was prepared by a simple solvothermal conditions method, using Fe3O4 as magnetic core, benzidine and 3,3,5,5-tetraaldehyde biphenyl as two building units. COF-SiO2@Fe3O4 could effectively capture the targeted PYRs by virtue of its abundant π-electron system and hydroxyl groups. The impact of various experimental parameters on extraction efficiency was investigated to optimize the MSPE conditions, including adsorbent amount, extraction time, elution solvent type and elution time. Subsequently, method validation was conducted under the optimal conditions in conjunction with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Within the range of 5.00–100 μg·kg-1 (1.00–100 μg·kg-1 for bifenthrin and 2.5–100 μg·kg-1 for fenpropathrin), the five PYRs exhibited a strong linear relationship, with determination coefficients ranging from 0.9990 to 0.9997. The limits of detection (LODs) were 0.3–1.5 μg·kg-1, and the limits of quantification (LOQs) were 0.9–4.5 μg·kg-1. The recoveries were 80.2–116.7% with relative standard deviations (RSDs) below 7.0%. Finally, COF-SiO2@Fe3O4, NH2-SiO2@Fe3O4 and Fe3O4 were compared as MSPE adsorbents for PYRs. The results indicated that COF-SiO2@Fe3O4 was an efficient and rapid selective adsorbent for PYRs. This method holds promising prospects for the determination of PYRs in real samples.

Soft magnetic composites cores were produced by Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) from Ni3Fe@ZnFe2O4 and NiFeMo@ZnFe2O4 pseudo-core-shell powders. In the Fe-Ni alloys@ZnFe2O4 pseudo-core-shell composite powders, the core is a large nanocrystalline Permalloy or Supermalloy particle obtained by mechanical alloying, and the shell is a pseudo continuously layer of Zn ferrite particles. The pseudo-core-shell powders have been compacted by SPS at temperatures between 500-700 ºC, with a holding time of 0 minutes. Several techniques were used for the characterisation of the powders and sintered compacts: X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, magnetic hysteresis measurements (DC and AC) and electrical resistivity. The electrical resistivity is stabilised at values of about 7·10-3 Ω·m for sintering temperatures between 600-700 °C and this value is 3 orders of magnitude higher than the electrical resistivity of sintered Fe compacts. The best relative initial permeability was obtained for the Supermalloy/ZnFe2O4 composite compacts sintered at 600 ºC, which decreases linearly for the entire frequency range studied, from around 95 to 50. Up a frequency of 2,000 Hz the power losses are lower than 1.5 W/kg. At the frequency of 10 kHz, the power losses are larger, but they remain at a low level. In the case of Supermalloy/ZnFe2O4 composite compact SPS-ed at 700 °C, the specific power losses are even lower than 5 W/kg. The power losses decomposition proved that intra-particles losses give the main part of the losses.

Overconsumption of an unbalanced diet and overweight, leading to insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, hepatic steatosis, cardiovascular diseases and obesity, is nowadays a worldwide health issue, with different patterns of metabolic disturbances in the young and adult popula-tions, in both gender. Preclinical models that closely mimic the gradual weight gain that occurs in humans upon consumption of a “western-type” diet (WD) are of great interest. In particular, the diet-induced obesity (DIO) model in the C57BL/6J mouse sub-strain is often used in biomed-ical research, considering that it is prone to metabolic disorders and obesity, and is widely used to generate genetically modified mice. This study aimed to phenotypically characterize the C57BL/6J mouse strain fed a WD-like diet, using high-frequency ultrasound imaging (HFUS) as a complementary tool to longitudinally monitor morphofunctional changes in the liver, heart and kidney associated with DIO. Long term WD feeding increased mice body weight (BW), liver/BW ratio and body condition score (BCS), serum transaminases, glucose and insulin, as well as Homeostasis model assessment (HOMA) indexes, and caused dyslipidemia and insulin resistance. According to the 3Rs, ultrasound imaging has enabled a comprehensive study of metabolic syndrome in mice, in vivo and non-invasive, improving the identification of early stages of diseases.

A study of cryogenic drilling in sandwich composites has been carried out. Materials used have been carbon fiber reinforced polymer sandwich sheets with inner foamed polyvinyl chloride core, composites with aerospace, marine, construction and automotive applications, including protec-tion structure of Polar engineering equipment. Experimental tests have been performed in lam-inates with 12 mm and 6 mm of thickness, drilling with liquid nitrogen as refrigerant to reach temperatures below -120ºC under different cutting conditions, in particular, drill rotation speeds between 2000 rpm and 6000 rpm and feed rates between 200 mm/min and 600 mm/min. Variables as thrust forces and circularity error have been measured, due to the importance of its effect on the hole quality, as an operation prior to a possible assembly. A design of experiments has been allowed determining relationships between variables, identifying the influence of cutting condi-tions on the thrust force and the circularity at inlet and outlet holes.

Public restrooms are often a hub of microbial contamination, and the examination of bacterial contamination in these facilities can serve as an important indicator of the transmission of infectious diseases. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of bacterial contamination in public restrooms based on the economic class of the building. Samples were collected from various spots in 32 restrooms found in 10 shopping malls, classifying them into two categories: upper-end restrooms and lower-end restrooms. The findings showed that the level of contamination was higher in the lower-end restrooms, with the seat being the most contaminated area. The most dominant Gram-positive bacteria were coagulase-negative staphylococci species, making up 86% of the identified Gram-positive isolates. The most dominant Gram-negative bacteria identified were Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The antibiotic sensitivity test results revealed the presence of multi-drug resistant bacteria among the Gram-positive and negative isolates, including Staphylococcus haemolyticus, Staphylococcus kloosi, Acinetobacter baumanii, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In conclusion, the study underscores the significance of monitoring bacterial contamination in public restrooms and the need for measures to reduce the spread of infectious diseases. Further research is crucial to gain a complete understanding of the bacterial contamination in public restrooms and their resistance patterns, to ensure the safety and health of the public. The implementation of improved cleaning practices and hands-free designs in restrooms can help reduce the risk of cross-contamination and prevent the spread of diseases.

According to current forecasts, global heating is likely to exceed 2,8°C by the end of the century. This makes substantial adaptation measures necessary to secure a broad basis for livelihoods provision and the conservation of biodiversity. While the implementation of top-down and technocratic adaptation efforts is the majority, related adaptation shortcomings of socio-economic and ecological nature are becoming more and more apparent. Community-based adaptation (CBA) with its participatory, inclusive and needs-based bottom-up approach offers a promising and powerful alternative. This article uses a semi-systematic literature review approach to screen the current literature and identify core issues of CBA. Linking communality, locality, multidimensionality, power imbalances, transformative potential, localisation, the triad of adaptation metrics and adaptation with nature to corresponding potential actions for practical implementations provides a more holistic conceptualisation and broadens the horizons for further learnings, research and improved application.

A large core size and bending resistance are very important properties of mid-infrared energy transfer fibers, but large core sizes usually lead to a deterioration of bending properties. A negative-curvature nested node-free anti-resonant hollow-core fiber (AR-HCF) based on quartz is proposed. It was made by adding a nested layer to a previous AR-HCF design to provide an additional anti-resonance region while keeping the gap between adjacent tubes strictly correlated to the core diameter to produce a node-free structure. These features improve the fiber’s bending resistance while achieving a larger core diameter. The simulation results show that the radial air-glass anti-resonant layer is increased by the introduction of the nested anti-resonant tube, and the weak interference overlap between the fiber core and the cladding mode is reduced, so the fiber core’s limiting loss and the sensitivity to bending are effectively reduced. When the capillary wall thickness t of the fiber is 0.71 μm, the core diameter D is 70 μm, the ratio of the inner diameter of the cladding capillary to the core diameter d/D is 0.62, and the diameter of the nested tube is d0=29 μm, the fiber has a lower limiting loss at the wavelength of 2.79 μm, and the limiting loss is 3.28×10-4 dB/m. At the same time, the optimized structure also has good bending resistance. When the bending radius is 30 mm, the bending loss is only 4.72×10-2 dB/m. To our knowledge, this is the first research to achieve an anti-bending low-loss micro-structure hollow fiber with a bending radius of less than 30 mm in the 2.79 μm band. An anti-bending low-loss anti-resonant hollow-core fiber with this structure constitutes a reliable choice for the light guiding system of a 2.79 μm band erbium laser therapy instrument.

To reduce the cost of small wind turbines, a prototype of a butterfly wind turbine (6.92 m in diameter), a small vertical-axis type, was developed with many parts made of extruded aluminum suitable for mass production. An over-speed control system with movable arms that operated using centrifugal and aerodynamic forces was installed for further cost reduction. Introducing this mechanism eliminates the need for large active brakes and expands the operating wind speed range of the wind turbine. However, although the mechanism involving the use of only bearings is simple, the violent movement of the movable arms can be a challenge. To address this in the present study, dampers were introduced on the movable arm rotation axes to improve the movement of the movable arms. To predict the behavior of a movable arm and the performance of the wind turbine with the mechanism, a simulation method was developed based on the blade element momentum theory and the equation of motion of the movable arm system. Comparison of experiments and predictions with and without dampers demonstrated qualitative agreement. In the case with dampers, measurements confirmed the predicted increase in the rotor rotational speed when the shorter ailerons installed perpendicularly to the movable arms were used to achieve the inclination. The movable arm system with dampers is expected to be a useful device for vertical-axis wind turbines that are difficult to control.

The development of CRISPR associated proteins, such as Cas9, has led to increased accessibility and ease of use in genome editing. However, additional tools are needed to quantify and identify successful genome editing events in living animals. We developed a method to rapidly and quantitatively monitor gene editing activity non-invasively in living animals that also facilitates confocal microscopy and nucleotide level analyses at the end of study. Here we report a new CRISPR “footprinting” approach to activate luciferase and fluorescent proteins in mice as a function of gene editing. This system is based on experience with our prior Cre-detector system and is designed for Cas editors able to target LoxP including gRNAs including SaCas9 and ErCas12a [1, 2]. These CRISPRs cut specifically within LoxP, an approach that is a departure from previous gene editing in vivo activity detection techniques that targeted adjacent stop sequences. In this sensor paradigm, CRISPR activity was monitored non-invasively in living Cre reporter mice (FVB.129S6(B6)-Gt(ROSA)26Sortm1(Luc)Kael/J and Gt(ROSA)26Sortm4(ACTB-tdTomato,-EGFP)Luo/J, which will be referred to as LSL and mT/mG throughout the paper) after intramuscular or intravenous hydrodynamic plasmid injections, demonstrating utility in two diverse organ systems. The same genome-editing event was examined at the cellular level in specific tissues by confocal microscopy to determine the identity and frequency of successfully genome-edited cells. Further, SaCas9 induced targeted editing at efficiencies that were comparable to Cre recombinase demonstrating high effective delivery and activity in a whole animal. This work establishes genome editing tools and models to track CRISPR editing in vivo non-invasively and to fingerprint the identity of targeted cells. This approach also enables similar utility for any of the thousands of previously generated LoxP animal models.

Interest grows in designing silicon-on-insulator slot waveguides to trap optical fields in subwavelength-scale slots and developing their optofluidic devices. However, it is worth noting that the inherent limitations of the waveguide structures may result in high optical losses and short optical paths, which challenge the device performance in optofluidics. Incorporating the planar silicon-based slot waveguide concept into a silica-based hollow-core fiber can provide a perfect solution to realize an efficient optofluidic waveguide. Here we propose a subwavelength-scale liquid-core hybrid fiber (LCHF), where the core is filled with carbon disulfide and surrounded by a silicon ring in a silica background. The waveguide properties and the Stimulated Raman Scattering (SRS) effect in the LCHF are investigated. The fraction of power inside the core of 56.3% allows an improved sensitivity in optical sensing; while the modal Raman gain of 23.60 m-1·W-1 is 2 times larger than that generated around a nano fiber with the interaction between the evanescent optical field and the surrounding Raman media benzene-methanol, which enables a significant low-threshold SRS effect. Besides, this in-fiber structure features compactness, robustness, flexibility, ease of implementation in both trace sample consumption and reasonable liquid filling duration, as well as compatibility with optical fiber systems. The detailed analyses of the properties and utilizations of the LCHF suggest a promising in-fiber optofluidic platform, which provides a novel insight into optofluidic devices, optical sensing, nonlinear optics, etc.

The polymer cures as it enters the ballast, forming a three-dimensional geo-composite reinforcing cage. Although there will be some adherence to the ballast in dry conditions, the polymer's primary job is to construct this reinforcing cage. Polymer penetration is controlled by altering the rheology of the polymer. The method is also said to include a built-in safety system, with the track reverting to a ballast state in the event of a polymer or geo-composite failure. Many of the sites were considered unmaintainable before the polymer was put. The design method was utilized to forecast track behaviour before and after treatment, allowing the most appropriate polymer rheology, polymer distribution, and loading levels to be designed in order to achieve optimum performance and confirm that the procedure worked. This method can be utilized to tackle these types of long-standing problems by displaying actual polymer application profiles at a typical important location.

In this paper, we consider the behavior of the local energy flow velocity of the fundamental air – core mode at the core – cladding boundary in two types of hollow – core fibers: hollow – core fibers with a negative curvature of the core boundary and single – capillary fibers with similar geometrical parameters. It is demonstrated that the behavior of both axial and radial components of the local energy velocity of the fundamental air – core mode is completely different for these two types of hollow – core fibers. The negative curvature of the core boundary leads to an alternating behavior of the radial projection of the local energy velocity and a decrease by two orders of magnitude compared to the values of this projection for a single capillary. In our opinion, this behavior of the local energy velocity of the fundamental air – core mode is caused by a periodic set of Poynting vector vortices that appear in the cladding capillary walls.

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.

Lactoperoxidase system (LPS) effect on quality of raw and pasteurized milk under real conditions along the dairy value chain in Ethiopia was evaluated. A total of 250 milk samples were collected from farmers, collectors, and factories. Experimental samples were LPS-activated of morning and overnight milk. The samples were tested with several chemical and microbiological tests such as total bacterial count (TBC), total coliform count (TCC) and Escherichia coli count (EC). Results indicated that all LPS-activated milk samples had a higher quality than all the control samples. For instance, both the morning and overnight farm milk samples had a mean TBCs of 5.79 log and 6.55 log cfu/ml which is significantly (p

The effect of the communication channel size on the transport and subsequent detection of chemical messengers is investigated on millimetric and micrometric channels. The transport of the information carriers, being characterized by an advective and a diffusive contribution, was simulated by varying the flow velocity and the diffusion coefficient. Then, to evaluate the information quality, the Intersymbol Interference (ISI) between two consecutive signals at a specific release delay was estimated. This allowed us to verify that operating under micrometric channel conditions has a larger flow velocity range to obtain completely separated successive signals and smaller release delays can be used between signals. The theoretical results were confirmed by developing a prototype molecular communication platform operating under microfluidic conditions, which enables communication through fluorescent nanoparticles, namely Carbon Quantum Dots (CQDs).

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate if tests used to assess core stability could be used to determine success in physiological tests applied to assess dynamic balance and agility for a young active population. Methods: Pearson's r correlation coefficient was used to assess the relationship between the core stability tests and the dynamic balance and agility tests. Evaluation of the tests was established using Cronbach's coefficient of variance as part of intra-rater reliability tests. An analysis of 18 active college aged students was conducted (males: n= 13, females: n= 5). The mean ± SD age for males was 19.2 years ± 3.22 years and for females was 19.4 years ± 1.14 years. Conclusion: The results indicate that there is no significant relationship between tests that assess core stability and tests conducted to assess dynamic balance in active young adults. With the exception of the abdominal flexion test, no significant relationship exists between the remaining core stability tests and agility T-Test. Core stability is not a determinant of balance and agility.

We propose two methods for obtaining estimations on the minimum distance and covering radius of orthogonal arrays. Both methods are based on knowledge about the (feasible) sets of distance distributions of orthogonal arrays with given length, cardinality, factors and strength. New bounds are presented either in analytic form and as products of an ongoing project for computation and investigation of the possible distance distributions of orthogonal arrays with parameters in doable ranges.

In this work, we report the magnetocaloric effect (MCE) in a quantum dot corresponding to an electron interacting with an antidot, under the effect of an Aharonov-Bohm flux subjected to a parabolic confinement potential. We use the Bogachek and Landman model, which additionally allows the study of quantum dots with Fock-Darwin energy levels for vanishing antidot radius and flux. We find that the Aharonov-Bohm flux (AB-flux) strongly controls the oscillatory behaviour of the MCE, thus acting as a control parameter for the cooling or heating of the magnetocaloric effect. We propose a way to detect AB-flux by measuring temperature differences.

Extracting railway tracks is crucial for creating electronic railway maps. Traditional methods require significant manual labor and resources, while existing neural networks have limitations in efficiency and precision. To address these challenges, a railway track extraction method using an improved DeepLabV3+ model is proposed, which incorporates several key enhancements. Firstly, the encoder part of the method utilizes the lightweight network MobileNetV3 as the backbone extraction network for DeepLabV3+. Secondly, the decoder part adopts the lightweight universal upsampling operator CARAFE for upsampling. Lastly, to address any potential extraction errors, morphological algorithms are applied to optimize the extraction results. Additionally, a dedicated railway track segmentation dataset is created to train and evaluate the proposed method. The experimental results demonstrate that the model achieves impressive performance on the railway track segmentation dataset and DeepGlobe dataset. The MIoU scores are 88.93% and 84.72%, with Recall values of 89.02% and 86.96%. Moreover, the overall accuracy stands at 97.69% and 94.84%. The algorithm's operation time is about 5% lower in comparison to the original network. Furthermore, the morphological algorithm effectively eliminates errors like holes and spots. These findings indicate the model's accuracy, efficiency, and the enhancement brought by the morphological algorithm in error elimination.

(1) Background: Parents of children with autism spectrum disorders often experience psychological distress, which can affect the quality of childcare they provide. It is crucial to screen for psychiatric symptoms among these parents. The Core Symptom Index (CSI) is a widely used tool for assessing general symptoms such as depression, anxiety, and somatic symptoms, with demonstrated validity and reliability across various populations. However, there is limited research on the validity and reliability of the CSI in the general Chinese population. This study aimed to investigate the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the CSI among parents of children with autism spectrum disorders using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). (2) Methods: A total of 794 Chinese parents raising children with autism participated in this study. All completed the CSI, along with the social inhibition subscale of the Interpersonal Problems Inventory and the Couple Satisfaction Index. Factorial validity was assessed using CFA to determine how well the bifactor three-factor model fits the data. Various structural models were compared using model fit indices. Convergent and discriminant validity were examined by exploring correlations with the social inhibition subscale and the Couple Satisfaction Index. Invariance testing of the CSI was conducted across multiple groups based on gender, age, and education using CFA. The reliability of the CSI was evaluated using McDonald’s omega coefficients. (3) Results: The bifactor model emerged as the best-fitting model for the data, suggesting that the total score of the CSI adequately represents overall psychiatric symptoms. The CSI exhibited significant correlations with the social inhibition subscale (r = 0.41, p &lt; 0.01) and smaller correlation coefficients with the Couple Satisfaction Index (r = -0.16, p &lt; 0.05), indicating both convergent and discriminant validity. Invariant tests supported scalar invariance levels based on gender and age but only partial invariance for education. The Chinese version of the CSI demonstrated high consistency, with McDonald's omega coefficients ranging between 0.86 and 0.95. (4) Conclusions: The bifactor model of the Chinese version of the CSI is validated, making it a suitable tool for measuring depression, anxiety, and somatization symptoms among parents of children with autism spectrum disorders. Further research on other Chinese populations is encouraged.

In this paper we propose a module that uses features learned by a deep convolutional neural network to infer areas of corrosion and segment pixels to corrosion areas of inspection interest. Our segmentation module is based on eigen tree decomposition and information based decision criteria. To interrogate performance we use several state-of-the-art deep learning architectures and compare to our approach. The results indicate that our method produces better results in terms of accuracy and precision, whilst maintaining good (f-score) significance over the entire dataset.

In Cameroon, Aedes mosquitoes transmit various arboviruses, posing significant health risks. We aimed to characterize the Aedes virome in southwestern Cameroon and identify potential core viruses which might be associated with vector competence. A total of 398 Aedes mosquitoes were collected from four locations (Bafoussam, Buea, Edea and Yaounde). Aedes albopictus dominated all sites except for Bafoussam where Aedes africanus prevailed. Metagenomic analyses of mosquitoes grouped per species into 54 pools revealed notable differences in eukaryotic viromes between Ae. africanus and Ae. albopictus, with the former exhibiting greater richness and diversity. Thirty-seven eukaryotic virus species from 16 families were identified, including six novel viruses with near complete genome sequences. Seven viruses were further quantified in individual mosquitoes via qRT-PCR. Although none of them could be identified as core viruses, Guangzhou sobemo-like virus and Bafoussam mosquito solemovirus virus were highly prevalent regionally in Ae. albopictus and Ae. africanus, respectively. This study highlights the diverse eukaryotic virome of Aedes species in southwestern Cameroon. Despite their shared Genus, Aedes species exhibit limited viral sharing, with varying viral abundance and prevalence across locations. Ae. africanus, an understudied vector, harbors a rich and diverse virome, suggesting potential implications for arbovirus vector competence.

The centrifugal force field in the hydrocyclone was affected by the concave-wall curvature radius R0, the mechanism of droplet deformation was closely related to the mass transfer efficiency. Numerical simulation and experimental data were collected to reveal the deformation characteristics and mechanism of single droplet crossing concave-wall jet. Normalized interfacial energy γ and stretching performance were provided to investigate the droplet deformation process. The results showed that the droplet was stretched along the streamwise and shrank along the spanwise in the concave-wall jet. The droplet interfacial energy and deformation were the largest when the droplet crossed the jet boundary at t = 0.20 s. Maximum γ value increased with the increase of R0 by 57.3% to 71.4%, and the distance between droplet and concave-wall increased with R0. Q-criterion was exported to show the vortex strength increasing as the decrease of R0 in the jet boundary. The pressure distribution inside the droplet showed that the pressure decreased as R0 increased, while the pressure difference increased along the streamwise and wall-normal direction. The study suggested that the droplet breakup was more difficult for the smaller R0, which was beneficial for liquid-liquid heterogeneous separation.

Because data on the fungal gut community structure of African children are scarce, we aimed to describe by reanalysing rRNA ITS1 and ITS2metabarcoding data from a study designed to assess the influence of microbiota in malaria susceptibility in Malian children from the Dogon country. More specifically, we aimed to establish the core gut mycobiome and compare the gut fungal community structure of breastfed children, aged 0-2 years, with other age groups. Briefly, DNA was extracted from 296 children’s stool samples. Both rRNA ITS1 and ITS2 genomic barcodes were amplified and subjected to Illumina MiSeq sequencing. The ITS2 barcode generated 1,975,320 reads and 532 operational taxonomic units (OTUs), while the ITS1 barcode generated 647,816 reads and 532 OTUs. The alpha diversity was significantly higher by using the ITS1 compared to the ITS2 barcode (p

The thymus, a central lymphoid organ in animals serves as the site for T cell development, differentiation and maturation, vital to adaptive immunity. Thymus is critical for maintaining tissue homeostasis to protect against tumors and tissue damage. Overactive or prolonged immune response can lead to oxidative stress from increased production of reactive oxygen species. Heat stress induces oxidative stress and overwhelms the natural antioxidant defense mechanisms. The study objectives were to investigate the protective properties of astaxanthin against heat-induced oxidative stress and apoptosis in the chicken thymus, by comparing the growth performance and gene signaling pathways among three groups- thermal neutral, heat stress and heat stress with astaxanthin. The thermal neutral temperature conditions were 21-22°C and heat stress temperature was 32-35°C. Both heat stress groups experienced reduced growth performance, while the astaxanthin treated group showed a slightly lesser decline. The inflammatory response and antioxidant defense system were activated by the upregulation of the NF-kB, NFE2L2, PPARα, cytoprotective capacity and apoptotic gene pathways in the heat stress compared to the thermal neutral group. Conversely, expression levels were without significance between the thermal neutral and heat stress with antioxidant groups, suggesting astaxanthin antioxidant effectiveness to mitigate inflammation and oxidative stress damage.

Team spirit is often considered a peculiar characteristic of sportspersons. While the importance of unity among athletes is evident in team games, its relevance in the training of sportspersons of individual sports, especially track and field athletics, is often not recognized. The purpose of this study is to review how team cohesion impacts athletes of various sports and understand how it could contribute to the overall performance of track and field athletes, who mainly compete individually.

A single-track magnetic code tape based absolute position sensor system is demonstrated. Unlike traditional dual-track systems, our method simplifies manufacturing and avoids crosstalk between tracks, offering higher tolerance to alignment errors. The sensing system employs an array of magnetic field sensing elements that recognize the bit sequence encoded on the tape. This approach allows for accurate position determination even when the number of sensing elements is fewer than the number of bits covered, and without the need for specific spacing between sensing elements and bit length. We demonstrate the system's ability to learn and adapt to various magnetic code patterns, including those that are irregular or have been altered. Our method can identify and localize the sensed magnetic field pattern directly within a self-learned magnetic field map, providing robust performance in diverse conditions. This self-adaptive capability enhances operational safety and reliability, as the system can continue functioning even when the magnetic tape is misaligned or has undergone changes.

Track fasteners play a pivotal role in infrastructure inspection for high-speed rail. Yet, images taken by drones often capture shadows cast by electrical towers flanking the high-speed rail tracks. These shadows can hinder the visibility of the track fasteners, thereby impacting detection efficiency and accuracy considerably. The present paper introduces an end-to-end shadow removal algorithm, rooted in generative adversarial network training. The comprehensive network framework is segmented into three sub-networks: pseudo-mask generation, shadow removal, and result refinement. We have integrated a Fourier convolutional residual module to bolster the feature extraction capability of the generator network. This integration ensures the network retains a global receptive field, even in its more superficial layers. By employing an overall weighted loss function, we enhance the quality of the images produced without shadows. Further, a perceptual loss function has been incorporated to retain the structural information of objects, setting the stage for subsequent defect detection. Our results highlight that Pse-ShadowNet adeptly eradicates fastener shadows while maintaining vital visual features, including object position, structure, texture, edges, and other key visual elements. Consequently, the reconstructed images are detailed and showcase superior image quality.

Rail impedance directly affects the transmission performance of track circuit . Considering the condition of earth stratification, for the difficult to calculate the rail impedance due to the semi-infinite integration interval and the oscillation of the integrand by using the Carson formula, The truncation method is proposed to divide the impedance formula is divided into definite integral and tail integral. The integral is approximated by the spline function, and the tail integral is calculated by using the exponential integral and Euler formula. Based on it, the rail impedance calculation formula of track circuit is obtained. The electromagnetic field model of track circuit with earth stratification is simulated by finite element method, and the correctness of the method is verified. Based on the formula, the influence of current frequency, soil depth and conductivity on rail impedance is studied. The relative error between the calculated results of rail impedance and the simulation results of finite element is within 5%. It can be seen that the formula has high accuracy and correctly reflects the law of rail impedance variation with current frequency, soil depth and resistivity. It provides a reliable reference for the theoretical calculation of rail impedance of track circuit.

Early detection of neurological conditions is critical for timely diagnosis and treatment. Identifying cellular-level changes is essential for implementing therapeutic interventions prior to symptomatic disease onset. However, monitoring brain tissue directly through biopsies is invasive and high-risk. Bodily fluids such as blood or cerebrospinal fluid contain information in many forms, including proteins and nucleic acids. Particularly, cell-free DNA (cfDNA) has potential as a versatile neurological biomarker. Yet, our knowledge of cfDNA released by brain tissue and how cfDNA changes in response to deleterious events within the brain is incomplete. Mapping changes in cfDNA to specific cellular events is difficult in vivo, where many tissues contribute to circulating cfDNA. Organoids are tractable systems for examining specific changes consistently in a human background. However, few studies have investigated cfDNA released from organoids. Here, we examined cfDNA isolated from cerebral organoids. We found that cerebral organoids release quantities of cfDNA sufficient for downstream analysis with droplet-digital PCR and whole-genome sequencing. Further, gene ontology analysis of genes aligning with sequenced cfDNA fragments revealed association with terms related to neurodevelopment and autism spectrum disorder. We conclude that cerebral organoids hold promise as tools for the discovery of cfDNA biomarkers related to neurodevelopmental and neurological disorders.

Barium monofluoride (BaF) is a polar molecule of interest to measurements of the electron electric dipole moment [1, 2]. For this purpose efforts are under way to investigate this molecule embedded within cryogenic matrices, e.g., in solid Ne [3]. For a theoretical understanding of the electronic structure of such an embedded molecule the need arises for efficient methods which are accurate, but also can handle a number of atoms which surround the molecule. The calculation for gas-phase BaF can be reduced to involve only outer electrons by representing the inner core of Ba with a pseudopotential [4] while carrying out a non-relativistic calculation with an appropriate basis set [5]. In this work we demonstrate to which extent this can be achieved using coupled-cluster methods to deal with electron correlation. As a test case the SrF(X 2Σ+ → B 2Σ+) transition is investigated and excellent accuracy is obtained with the EOM-CC3 method. For the BaF(X 2Σ+ → A′ 2∆, X 2Σ+ → A 2Π, X 2Σ+ → B 2Σ+) transitions various coupled-cluster approaches are compared with very good agreement for EOM-CC3 with experimentally derived spectroscopic parameters except for the excitation to the A′ 2∆ state for which the excitation energy is overestimated by 200 cm−1.

Monitoring and maintenance of cracked structures are generally done using structural integrity assessments. The plastic zone (PZ) crack path (CP) criteria state that a crack grows in the direction when the radius of the plastic zone ahead of the crack tip reaches a minimum value. The PZ can be evaluated using Stress intensity factors (SIF). The SIFs under mixed-mode loading were extracted from literature from three samples: two SENT samples made from polycarbonate and one modified C(T) sample made from low-carbon steel. In addition, the CP angle was evaluated for the W and R-criteria. It was found that both can predict the CP for lateral cracks in both tested materials and monotonic and cyclic load when the mode-mixity does not change considerably from one crack length to the next one or goes beyond 0.2. Moreover, the R-criterion exhibited an error as high as 1.7%, whereas the W-criterion showed a 6% error on the last crack length for the low carbon steel sample under cyclic load, which had a 100% increase in mode-mixity. Finally, the applicability of LEFM is checked, while the CP is sought by finding the size of the PZ.

The advantage of FPGAs lies in the ability to implement a fully hardware solution for interfacing with various input/output (I/O) devices. Each block can work in parallel with all the others, simplifying the satisfaction of timing constraints. However, this hardware utilization consumes FPGA resources that could otherwise be allocated to the primary project. An alternative involves employing a small "soft-core" processor implementing I/O in software. With the goal to design and evaluate a new tiny soft-core processor optimized for FPGA resources in I/O , a novel processor named Baby8 is developed. It is an 8-bit CISC soft-core processor optimized for reduced FPGA resources including program size for 8-bit applications. The number of instructions is not large but any instruction can access arbitrary memory locations. The performance and resource utilization of the newly designed processor are evaluated and compared with a variety of other soft-core processors. The results demonstrate its competitive performance, achieving an average maximum clock frequency of approximately 57 MHz and a power consumption of around 2mW. Furthermore, it conserves nearly half of the FPGA resources in implementation.

Recent advances in microscopy imaging and image analysis motivate more and more institutes world-wide to establish dedicated core-facilities for bio-image analysis. To maximize the benefits research groups at these institutes gain from their core-facilities, they should be established to fit well into their respective environment. In this article, we introduce common collaborator requests and corresponding potential services core-facilities can offer. We also discuss potential conflicts of interests between the targeted missions and implementations of services to guide decision makers and core-facility founders to circumvent common pitfalls.

A topological representation theory of chiral spin liquid is proposed to unify the integral and fractional quantum Hall fluid based on hyperbolic geometry, knot lattice and Thurston's train track theory. The integral and fractional Hall resistivity obeys an exact unified equation, $R_{xy} = (h/e^2)B_{e}$, $B_{e} = (n+\nu)^{-1}$, with respect to the bulk energy gap ${\Delta}E = {\hbar{e}B_{e}}/{Mc}$. The Wen-Zee matrix formulation of topological fluid for quantum Hall effect is constructed by topological surgery and train track. The chirality of spin liquid is spontaneously distinguished by Jones polynomial. The integral Chern number for Hall conductance is fractionalized by generalizing Thurston's train track to folding laminations in three dimensions, which spontaneously bring fractional quantum Hall fluid and anyons into three dimensions and provided an theoretical explanation on the competing fractional quantum Hall states. The many body system of interacting fermions or bosons are mapped into many interacting liquid droplets that interwind into knot lattice, which provide an effective topological representation for superfluid and superconductor, the strange metal state in superconductor is explained by topological dislocation and topological surgery. The Kauffman decomposition rule in knot theory is extended to describe the topological relations between different two dimensional manifolds, which further reveals the non-trivial relationship between the partition functions of pairing fermions and free electrons. The minimal energy state is the most stable topological state, even thought it maybe shares the same topological number with the excited states. The topological representation theory predicts a circular motion of electrons in hyperbolic space, that is implementable and testable by inhomogeneous magnetic field in three dimensions. The folding lamination representation of topological quantum fluid provides an promising implementation of string theory in high energy physics.

The period from 2019 to 2021 witnessed an enduring and severe drought that impacted southeast South America. Initially characterized as a meteorological drought, its influence later extended across the entire hydrological cycle. This paper explores the application of the S-TRACK method to monitor and characterize the 2019/21 drought in Southern Brazil (SB) and Southeast Brazil (SEB). Monthly precipitation data from reanalyses and satellites, alongside the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) for drought quantification, are utilized. Precipitation datasets, validated against rain gauge records, highlight ERA-5 and CHIRPS as having the highest correlation in both SB and SEB, with PERSIANN exhibiting a moderate correlation. The utilization of the S-TRACK method for spatial drought tracking revealed the temporal dynamics of the drought events, with three significant episodes occurring in 2020/2021. Initially, the onset of the drought was observed in the SB region, characterized by intensities ranging from moderate to extreme. Subsequently, the drought extended northward, reaching its maximum intensity at lower latitudes within the SEB region before either dissipating or experiencing a reduction in both its spatial extent and intensity. The prolonged presence of drought-affected areas in the same region over an extended period contributed significantly to the exacerbation of drought severity, particularly during the March to May trimester.

Stray currents can cause very rapid degradation and material loss at the points where the current leaves the metal and enters the electrolyte. Nowadays, many resources are invested in the protection of jeopardized structures, such as buried pipelines, from stray current corrosion. This paper describes the measures that need to be considered in the design and construction of track structures to ensure high rail-to-ground resistance and consequently reduce stray currents. The main conclusions from existing guidelines and standards for reducing and controlling stray currents that are applied by various track operators are presented in the paper. Rail-to-ground resistance in different types of tracks structures and rail fastening systems is analysed and optimal type of the track and type of the fastening system is defined. The grounding schemes used on the tracks and their influence on stray current values are described, as well as the influence of traction power substation and rail cross bonding on stray current. Since it is not necessary to apply all the measures described to the same track structure, the paper gives recommendations on which measures to apply when building tracks with continuously fastened rails and which to apply when building tracks with discretely supported and fastened rails.

The radiosensitivity of biological systems is strongly affected by the system oxygenation. On the nanoscopic scale and molecular level, this effect is considered to be strongly related to the indirect damage of radiation. Even though particle track radiolysis has been the object of several studies, still little is known about the nanoscopic impact of target oxygenation on the radical yields. We present here an extension of the chemical module of the Monte Carlo particle track structure code TRAX, taking into account the presence of dissolved molecular oxygen in the target material. The impact of the target oxygenation level on the chemical track evolution and the yields of all the relevant chemical species is studied in water under different irradiation conditions: different linear energy transfer (LET) values, different oxygenation levels, and different particle types. Especially for low LET radiation, a large production of two highly toxic species (HO₂^• and O₂^•− ), which are not produced in anoxic conditions, is predicted and quantified in oxygenated solutions. The remarkable correlation between the HO₂^• and O₂^•− production yield and the oxygen enhancement ratio observed in biological systems suggests a direct or indirect involvement of HO₂^• and O₂^•− in the oxygen sensitization effect. The results are in agreement with available experimental data and previous computational approaches. An analysis of the oxygen depletion rate in different radiation conditions is also reported.

Water pollution with dyes is a critical environmental issue because off the huge amount of dyes disbarred annually which cause severe damage for the ecosystem and human life. On the other hand, the core-shell based magnetic materials have showed amazing character for controlling the material synthesis with targeted structure to enhance the adsorptive-removal of pollutants. Herein, Fe3O4 core-TiO2/mesoSiO2 and Fe3O4 core-mesoSiO2/TiO2 double shell nanoparticles were prepared by first (R1) and second (R2) routes. The preparation procedure is controlled to prepare the magnetic core with further coating layers from silica and titania for the uptake of methylene blue from aqueous solutions. The reported adsorption capacities for R1-0.2, R1-0.4 and R2 samples were 46, 38 and 50 mg/g respectively at pH 6 after 80 min contact time form 50 ppm methylene blue solution. The adsorption process of methylene blue onto Fe3O4core-meso SiO2/TiO2 double shell was well fitted with the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and Freundlish isotherm which suggested the quick and multilayer adsorption mechanism. In addition, results of thermodynamic investigation indicated that the surfaces of Fe3O4 core-mesoSiO2/TiO2 and Fe3O4 core-TiO2/mesoSiO2 double shell exhibit spontaneous tendency to adsorb methylene blue from the aqueous solutions. These results will encourage the further application of Fe3O4 core-meso SiO2/TiO2 and Fe3O4 core-TiO2/meso SiO2 double shell for removal of other dyes and pollutants from wastewater.

This study investigates the petroleum potential of the Middle Jurassic Khatatba Formation (Fm) in the Matruh Basin, northwestern Egypt. This formation shows in situ dual source and reservoir characteristics, where alternations of fine and coarse clastics were deposited during semi-arid and semi-humid conditions due to climate changes and Tethyan sea level fluctuations. The organic-rich shales and argillaceous siltstones are fair to very good/excellent (TOCm wt%: 0.91–3.07) source rocks. They are rich in late mature to early postmature mostly gas-prone organic facies C, which sourced the juxtaposing intraformational coarse clastics of the Lower Safa Member with gas and condensates. The source rocks show poor to fair gas generation potential (S2: 0.38–1.96, mg HC/g rock). The middle part of the Lower Safa Member shows excellent organic richness (TOCm wt%: 5.39 and 22.90) of early postmature gas-prone carbonaceous material and coal deposits. These coaly shale layers exhibit fair to excellent wet gas and condensate generation potential (S2: 4.51–27.43, mg HC/g rock). Maturation of the source rocks was related to the Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous Tethyan rifting. The onset of oil generation occurred in the Early Cretaceous (~ 116 Ma ago), while the onset of gas generation occurred in the Oligocene (~ 24 Ma ago). Shales of the Lower Cretaceous Alam El Bueib Fm are primary sealing rocks, while carbonates and shales of the Khatatba Fm are secondary sealing rocks. Trap types are structural, formed during the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous rifting of the Matruh Basin. Sandstones of the Upper Safa Member show upward increases in kaolinite and exhibit low-quality tight sandstone reservoirs. The Lower Safa Member sandstones show better gas reservoir quality with lower shale volumes. Operationally, the Lower Safa sandstone reservoirs in the Imhotep W-1X well are not suitable for gas production because they are ductile and show a high decline in production and pressure. Overall, the petroleum system of the Khatatba Fm shows mainly fair hydrocarbon potential in the study area.

This paper discusses the basic concepts of phase dislocations and vortex formation in the electric fields of fundamental air core mode of hollow core waveguides with specific types of rotational symmetry of the core – cladding boundary. Analysis of the behavior of the electric field phase in the transmission bands shows that the mechanism of light localization in the hollow core waveguides with discrete rotational symmetry of the core – cladding boundary cannot be completely described by the ARROW model. For an accurate description of the phase behavior, it is necessary to account for phase jumps of the magnitude of π when passing through the phase dislocations.

Summary: Studying biological systems generally relies on computational modeling and simulation, e.g., for model-driven discovery and hypothesis testing. Progress in standardization efforts led to the development of interrelated file formats to exchange and reuse models in systems biology, such as SBML, the Simulation Experiment Description Markup Language (SED-ML), or the Open Modeling EXchange format (OMEX). Conducting simulation experiments based on these formats requires efficient and reusable implementations to make them accessible to the broader scientific community and to ensure the reproducibility of the results. The Systems Biology Simulation Core Library (SBSCL) provides interpreters and solvers for these standards as a versatile open-source API in Java™. The library simulates even complex bio-models and supports deterministic Ordinary Differential Equations (ODEs); Stochastic Differential Equations (SDEs); constraint-based analyses; recent SBML and SED-ML versions; exchange of results, and visualization of in silico experiments; open modeling exchange formats (COMBINE archives); hierarchically structured models; and compatibility with standard testing systems, including the Systems Biology Test Suite and published models from the BioModels and BiGG databases. Availability and implementation: SBSCL is freely available at https://draeger-lab.github.io/SBSCL/.

Defect recognition in ballastless track structures, based on distributed acoustic sensors (DASs), was researched in order to improve detection efficiency and ensure the safe operation of trains on high-speed railways. A line in southern China was selected, and equipment was installed and debugged to collect the signals of trains and events along it. Track vibration signals were extracted by identifying a train track, denoising, framing and labeling to build a defect dataset. Time–frequency-domain statistical features, wavelet packet energy spectra and the MFCCs of vibration signals were extracted to form a multi-dimensional vector. An XGBoost model was trained and its accuracy reached 89.34%. A time-domain residual network (ResNet) that would expand the receptive field and test the accuracies obtained from convolution kernels of different sizes was proposed, and its accuracy reached 94.82%. In conclusion, both methods showed good performance with the built dataset. Additionally, the ResNet delivered more effective detection of DAS signals compared to conventional feature engineering methods.

Stray current is a relevant phenomenon in particular for DC electrified transportation systems, affecting the track and infrastructure within the right of way and other structures and installations nearby. It worsens with time and the level of protection depend on timely maintenance, besides correct design choices. The assessment of track insulation is the starting point for both stray current monitoring systems and at commissioning or upon major changes. Standardized methods (ref. EN 50122-2, or IEC 62128-2) are almost unchanged in the last 20 years, but suffer from accuracy issues and variability due to parameters and conditions not under operator’s control. A critical discussion and analysis of the sources of variability and practical constraints is proposed, followed by the evaluation of uncertainty, with the objective not only to assess the accuracy of provided results, but to foster research on innovative, more flexible and accurate, methods.

In this work, we demonstrate the preparation of easy-to-fabricate nanogranular, strontium ferromolybdate/strontium molybdate core-shell ceramics and examine their properties including tunnel magnetoresistance, magnetic field sensitivity and temperature coefficient of the tunnel magnetoresistance. The tunnel magnetoresistance of nanogranular, strontium ferromolybdate/strontium molybdate core-shell ceramics was modeled yielding values suitable for magnetoresistive sensor application. Such structures possess a narrow peak of magnetic flux sensibility located at about 125 mT. For magnetic flux measurement, single domain granules with superparamagnetic behavior should be applied. The predicted TMR magnetic flux sensitivities for granules with superparamagnetic behavior amount to about 7.7 % per T and 1.5 % per T for granules sizes of 6.8 nm and 4 nm, respectively. A drawback of the tunnel magnetoresistance of such nanogranular core-shell ceramics is the unacceptable large value of the temperature coefficient. Acceptable values, lower than 2 % per K, are obtained only at low temperatures (less than 100 K) or large magnetic flux densities (exceeding 6 T). Therefore, a Wheatstone bridge configuration should be adopted for magnetoresistive sensors design to compensate the effect of temperature.

A systematic study has been conducted on barbiturate complexes of all five alkali metals Li–Cs prepared from the metal carbonates or hydroxide in aqueous solution without other potential ligands present, varying the stoichiometric ratio of metal ion to barbituric acid (BAH). Eight polymeric compounds (two each for Na, K, and Rb and one each for Li and Cs) have been characterised by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. All contain some combination of barbiturate anion BA− (necessarily in a 1:1 ratio with the metal cation M+), barbituric acid, and water. All organic species and water molecules are coordinated to the metal centres via oxygen atoms as either terminal or bridging ligands. Coordination numbers range from 4 (for the Li complex) to 8 (for the Cs complex). Extensive hydrogen bonding plays a significant role in all the crystal structures, almost all of which include pairs of N–H…O hydrogen bonds linking BA− and/or BAH components into ribbons extending in one dimension. Factors influencing the structure adopted by each compound include cation size and reaction stoichiometry as well as hydrogen bonding.

This study aimed to evaluate a cantilever beam-type piezoelectric energy harvester operating on train-induced vibrations for powering Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) used in railway track monitoring systems. The harvester's behaviors under different conditions are simulated in MATLAB using the analytical model. Natural frequency, maximum deflection, and stress were calculated with greater precision using eigenfrequency and stationary analysis using COMSOL Multiphysics. At a base excitation of 2 g and a resonant frequency of 4.38 Hz, the simulated results showed that the developed energy harvester prototype could generate up to 14 V of AC output voltage and 550 mW of output power. These findings highlight the promising potential of the proposed energy harvester for transforming train mechanical energy into electrical power. This energy harvester's viability and dependability for real-world applications in monitoring railway tracks are supported by developed analytical and simulation models.

Seed longevity is a crucial trait for the seed industry and genetic resource preservation. To develop excellent cultivars with extended seed lifespans, it is important to understand the mechanism of keeping seed germinability long-term and to find useful genetic resources as prospective breeding materials. This study was conducted to identify the best cultivars with a high and stable seed longevity trait in the germplasm of rice (Oryza sativa L.) and to analyse the correlation between seed longevity and embryonic RNA integrity. Seeds from 69 cultivars of the world rice core collection selected by the NIAS in Japan were harvested in different years and subjected to long-term storage or controlled deterioration treatment (CDT). The long-term storage (4 °C, RH under 35%, 10 years) was performed on seeds harvested in 2010 and 2013. The seeds harvested in 2016 and 2019 were used for CDT (36 °C, RH of 80%, 40 days). Seed longevity and embryonic RNA integrity were estimated by a decrease in germination rate and RNA integrity number (RIN) after long-term storage, or CDT. The RIN value was obtained by electrophoresis of total RNA extracted from seed embryos. Seeds of ‘Vandaran (Indica)’, ‘Tupa 729 (Japonica)’, and ‘Badari Dhan (Indica)’ consistently showed higher seed longevity and embryonic RNA integrity both under long-term storage and CDT conditions, regardless of the harvest year. A strong correlation (R2 = 0.93) was observed between germination rates and RIN values of the seeds after long-term storage or CDT among nine cultivars selected based on differences in their seed longevity. The study findings revealed the relationship between rice seed longevity and embryo RNA stability and suggested potential breeding materials, including both Japonica and Indica cultivars, for improving rice seed longevity.

The Internet's core network, crucial for key services, lacks a clear definition, hindering Internet development and security research. This study analyzes important Autonomous Systems (ASes) and proposes a rule-filtering, top-down method to infer the Internet's core network. It identifies two core memberships: Tier-1 ASes and Regional Tier-1 ASes. Despite a gap, Regional Tier-1 ASes show potential to join the core. Our proposed core structure, unlike traditional methods that randomly select TOP-K nodes, offers improved rationality and interpretability. Historical data analysis reveals the Internet's core structure as a tightly interconnected network of large provider ASes. Despite some changes, this structure shows remarkable stability and growing influence, potentially encouraging other ASes to establish direct connections with the core ASes, accelerating the trend towards a flattened Internet structure. Furthermore, the core structure may be evolving from a majority to a more minority-centric structure.

In this paper we show how to efficiently implement parallel discrete simulations on Multi-Core and GPU architectures through a real example of application: a cellular automata model of laser dynamics. We describe the techniques employed to build and optimize the implementations using OpenMP and CUDA frameworks. We have evaluated the performance on two different hardware platforms that represent different target market segments: high-end platforms for scientific computing, using an Intel Xeon Platinum 8259CL server with48cores and also an NVIDIA Tesla6V100 GPU, both running on Amazon Web Server (AWS) Cloud, and on a consumer-oriented platform, using an Intel Core i9 9900k CPU and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 TI GPU. Performance results are compared and analysed in detail. We show that excellent performance and scalability can be obtained in both platforms, and we extract some important issues that imply a performance degradation for them. We also found that current Multi-Core CPUs with large core numbers can bring a performance very near to that of GPUs, even similar in some cases.

The objective of this study was to compare the effectiveness of a professional-oriented education approach to traditional teaching methods among high school secondary students in Kazakhstan in aligning students to their suitable career education track. The study utilised a mechanics physics course to assess both approaches and involved two groups of students over 26 months - a control group (n=58) and an experimental group (n=57). Quantitative data was collected through a Mechanics Physics Test administered before and after the teaching and learning class. In Kazakhstan, students will be aligned directly with either secondary vocational education, the initial vocational education track, or the general education track, which relies on the final performance of their secondary school. The findings indicated that both teaching methods improved the student's performance, but the experimental group exhibited a significantly higher level of improvement than the control group. This study shows that a professional-oriented education approach can clearly align students with their interests and strengths and help them pursue their desired careers confidently. This approach enables students to make informed decisions about their future studies and career paths, reducing costs and saving time for schools and governments—implications and, to a further extent, the study is also discussed.

European cities are motivated to act towards the achievement of climate-neutral mobility solutions. Often, though, they are facing many challenges when bringing (innovative) sustainable mobility solutions forward. Capacity building that fills skills gap and/or enables acquisition of new ones related to the planning and implementation of such solutions can empower local/ regional authorities to identify them, adopt them and eventually deliver them properly. The aim of this paper is to present the Key Performance Indicator (KPI) framework that has been used for the assessment of the effectiveness of the Learning and Exchange Programme applied in an EU-funded project. It presents the methodological steps for the adoption of the KPIs, as well as the tools used for the selection of the KPI data and the KPI monitoring at project level. It also presents the results from the application of the framework for assessing the knowledge performance towards the deployment of sustainable mobility solutions. It finally reflects on recommendations for applying the KPI framework to other cases and thematic contents.

The authors have revised the circularity of materials, which is important to stimulate circular activity processes. The theoretical part starts with describing the characteristics of the circular activity and the comparison of circular and linear systems in terms of recycling. Later on, the authors examined key elements important for the circularity and the results of an examination of various sectors. The authors formed a correlation matrix and used a dynamic regression model to identify the circular material use rate. The authors suggested a three-level methodology, using it provided a dynamic regression model which could be applied for forecasting the size of circular material use rate in European Union countries. The results show that private investments into recycling and the recycling of electronic waste and the recycling of other municipal waste categories are important in seeking to increase the usage rate of circular materials.

Early development in mammals is characterized by the ability of each cell to produce a complete organism plus the extraembryonic, or placental, cells, defined as pluripotency. During subsequent development, pluripotency is lost, and cells begin to differentiate to a particular cell fate. This review summarizes the current knowledge of pluripotency features of bovine embryos cultured in vitro, focusing on the core of pluripotency genes (OCT4, NANOG, SOX2, and CDX2), and main chemical strategies for controlling pluripotent networks during early development. Finally, we will discuss the applicability of manipulating pluripotency during morula to blastocyst transition in cattle species.

This is a short note on a new way to describe Haug's newly introduced maximum velocity for matter in relation to the Schwarzschild radius. This leads to a probabilistic Schwarzschild radius for elementary particles with mass smaller than the Planck mass. In addition, our maximum velocity, when linked to the Schwarzschild radius, seems to predict that particles just at that radius cannot move. This implies that radiation from the Schwarzschild radius not can undergo velocity time dilation. Our maximum velocity of matter, therefore, seems to predict no time dilation, even in high Z quasars, as has surprisingly been observed recently.

Transition zones are in the places on the track, with a change in the basic composition of the railway body. There are many sections with a sudden change in the stiffness of the structures built. When the trains are running, a longitudinal shock wave is created from the wheels, which hits these building objects with a higher stiffness and deforms the surroundings of these zones. The greatest attention should be paid mainly to the transition points from the fixed track to the classic track with a track bed, including objects of the railway substructure such as bridges, portals of tunnels, etc. As part of the research sections on the main corridor lines, a long-term inspection and monitoring was carried out with a continuous measurement system using the KRAB trolley. Height changes in the deflections of rails are evidence of their behavior. The measurements took place on a fixed track and a track with a ballast. Changes in the height jumps between the fixed railway track and the track with a gravel bed are significant and have been recorded since the tracks were put into operation. These certain height deflections allow designers to develop new, more durable construction designs.

This paper explores if plants are capable of responding to human movement by changes in their electrical signals. Towards that goal we conducted a series of experiments, where humans over a period of 6 months were performing different types of eurythmic gestures in proximity of garden plants, namely salad, basil, and tomatoes. To measure plant perception, we used the plant spikerbox, a device that measures changes in voltage differentials of plants between roots and leaves. Using machine learning, we find that the voltage differentials over time of the plant predict if (a) eurythmy has been performed, and (b) which kind of eurythmy gestures has been performed. We also find that the signals are different based on the species of the plant. In other words, the perception of a salad, tomato, or basil might differ just as perception of different species of animals differ. This opens new ways of studying plant ecosystems, while also paving the way to use plants as biosensors for analyzing human movement.

There is a paucity of data on the progression of track cycling sprinters, and the evolution of training and performance over a training cycle. Following prior research showing relationships between sprint cycling power and endurance cycling power, we compared these relations over a 3-month period. Our hypothesis is large improvements in power would come from training either for sprint power or sprint capacity, and this would be reflected in the data. A total of publicly available 25 datasets. These data were plotted against the line of best fit for 30-s and 2-min power to assess if training towards the line led to better 30-s power. We observe the best performances came from riders who start below the 30-s vs 2-min power line of best fit, with greater capacity and ability to ride fast over a sprint series, and progressing towards focusing on specific power in the final block leading into a competition. These results support the hypothesis of combined capacity and power training based on rider-specific relationship to the line of best fit between these measures versus a strictly maximal power training focus.

Objective: Determine the feasibility of utilizing longitudinal electronic dental record (EDR) data to track change over time in patient periodontal disease (PD) and to generate three patient cohorts: 1) patients whose disease did not change over time, 2) patients whose PD progressed, and 3) patients whose disease improved over time using informatics approaches. Methods: We conducted a retrospective study of 28,908 patients who received a comprehensive oral evaluation between January 1, 2009, and December 31, 2014, at the Indiana University School of Dentistry (IUSD) clinics. We developed and tested three automated computer applications to: 1) diagnose periodontitis cases from periodontal charting, 2) retrieve clinician-documented diagnoses from clinical notes, and 3) track disease change over time. We also evaluated the density of longi-tudinal EDR data for the following follow-up times: 1) none, 2) up to 5 years, 3) >5 and <=10 years, and 4) >10 and <=15 years Results: Thirty-four percent (n=9,954) of the study cohort had up to five years of follow-up visits with an average of 2.78 visits with periodontal charting information. An average of three patient visits per year that contained periodontal charts (63,552) were utilized to obtain a diagnosis, which is considered excellent. For clinician-documented diagnoses from clinical notes, 42% of patients (n=5,562) had at least two PD diagnoses to determine their disease change. In this cohort with cli-nician-documented diagnoses, 72% percent of patients (n=3,919) did not have a disease status change between their first and last visits, 669 (13%) patients' disease status progressed, and 589 (11%) patients’ disease improved. Conclusions: This study demonstrated the feasibility of utilizing longitudinal EDR data to track disease changes over 15 years during the observation study period. We found excellent longitudinal data when diagnoses generated from periodontal charting were considered (three visits per pa-tient). This information can be now utilized for studying the clinical course of periodontitis.

Over 130 countries have committed to reaching net-zero CO2 or GHG emissions by 2050, yet this ambition is rarely underpinned by robust policies. By applying a detailed integrated assessment modelling approach for Brazil, we assess, for the first time, the extent to which the existing and planned local policies could put Brazil on the path to its net zero pledge. This includes quantifying the role of nature-based solutions, such as protection and restoration, and engineered solutions, such as bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS). We show protection is the single most important climate mitigation measure at relatively low costs, whereas relying heavily on engineered solutions would jeopardise Brazil’s chances of achieving its net zero pledge. We also show that the mismatch between Brazil's short- and long-term climate targets reflects current weak environmental governance. Our analysis reinforces the urgent need for Brazil to eliminate illegal deforestation and go beyond to help fight climate change whilst curbing biodiversity loss.

Coronavirus disease is a newly identified infectious disease that began in Wuhan, China in 2019 and is recognized as COVID-19. This virus has a serious impact on the planet that causes the deaths of millions of people; it produces unemployment and poverty. However, it has constructive environmental effects that reduce the amount of pollution in the atmosphere. Pakistan is also a developing economy caused by this deadly virus. Before 03 April 2021, the percentage of reported cases ranges from 682,888, with about 14,697 casualties and a total of 609,691 cases retrieved. Pakistan’s war against coronavirus can differ from advanced technical countries due to lack of resources. In this article, we will address the relation between COVID-19 and the environment in the particular case of Pakistan. There is evidence that this pandemic has lowered concentrations of greenhouse gases, including CO2 and NO2, as a consequence of global lock-down strategies.

This work proposes a hollow-core photonic crystal fiber-based edible oil sensor in the terahertz (THz) range (e.g., 1.0THz ≤ f ≤ 3.0THz) and different sensing characteristics are numerically analyzed. The suggested sensor’s performance was assessed by means of COMSOL Multiphysics, a commercial program that uses the finite element approach. The computational results indicate that the relative sensitivity is 85.591%, 84.648%, 82.625%, 82.683%, and 79.161%, respectively, at f = 2.2 THz, for several types of sunflower oil, mustard oil, coconut oil, olive oil and palm oil; and the corresponding effective areas are 7.22×10-8 um2, 7.09×10-8 um2, 6.83×10-8 um2,7.09×10-8 um2, 6.5231 ×10-8 um2. In addition, the effective material loss for sunflower oil, muster oil, coconut oil, olive oil, and palm oil has been found to be 0.02561 cm-1, 0.027054 cm-1, 0.030322 cm-1, 0.028854 cm-1 ,0.035427cm-1 respectively. Moreover, the proposed sensor also has low confinement loss are 1.55×10-8 dB/m, 1.63×10-8 dB/m, 1.31×10-8 dB/m, 1.99×10-8 dB/m, 4.0345×10-8 dB/m.This proposed sensor can be fabricated using extrusion and 3D-printing technologies, and due to its augmented detecting capabilities, it can be a vital part of oil sensing devices implemented in real life such as industry fields.

This paper proposes a linear eddy-current feature to determine the radius of a metallic ball in a non-contact manner. An electromagnetic eddy-current sensor with two coils is placed co-axially to the metal ball during measurement. It is well known that the distance between the sensor and test piece (i.e. lift-off) affects eddy-current signals. In this paper, it is found that the peak frequency feature of inductance spectrum is linear to the lift-off spacing between the centre of coil and ball. Besides, the slope of peak frequencies versus lift-offs is linked to the radius of ball. The radius of metallic balls is retrieved from the experimental and embedded analytical result of the slope. Measurements have been carried out on 6 metallic balls with different radii. The radius of the metallic ball can be retrieved with an error of less than 2 %.

Eddy current based approaches have been investigated for a wide range of inspection applications. Dodd-Deeds model and the truncated region eigenfunction expansion (TREE) method are widely applied in various occasions, mostly for the cases that the sample is relatively larger than the radius of the sensor coil. The TREE method converts the integral expressions to the summation of many terms in the truncated region. In a recent work, the impedance of the co-axial air-cored sensor due to a plate of finite radius was calculated by the modified Dodd-Deeds analytical approach proposed by authors. In this paper, combining the modified analytical solution and the TREE method, a new finite region eigenfunction expansion (FREE) method is proposed. This method involves modifying its initial summation point from the first zero of the Bessel function to a value related to the radius of the plate, therefore makes it suitable for plate with finite dimensions. Experiments and simulations have been carried out and compared for the verification of the proposed method. Further, the planar size measurements of the metallic circular plate can be achieved by utilising the measured peak frequency feature.

The paper describes model of human affect based on quantum theory of semantics. The model considers emotion as subjective representation of behavioral context relative to a basis binary choice, organized by cyclical process structure and an orthogonal evaluation axis. The resulting spherical space, generalizing well-known circumplex models, accommodates basic emotions in specific angular domains. Predicted process-semantic structure of affect is observed in the word2vec data, as well as in the previously obtained spaces of emotion concepts. The established quantum-theoretic structure of affective space connects emotion science with quantum models of cognition and behavior, opening perspective for synergetic progress in these fields.

This study aimed at investigating the quality statuses of graduates’ sustainable core competences development and the causes behind the identified competence statuses by applying the core competencies’ model. The study employed case study design with thematic analysis involving seven interviewees. This study used tracer study findings and national exit exam results as exhibits. The study revealed “very good” and “excellent” quality statuses for the graduates’ core competence development of College of medicine and Health Sciences (CMHS). Similarly, this study identified “Good +” statuses for the quality of graduates’ core competence development in College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences ( CAES) and College of Science (CS). Furthermore, the study identified "good" - and +” statuses for the quality of graduates’ competence development at the Faculty of Social Sciences (FSS) and Faculty of Humanities (FH). Improved instruction with a balance of theory and practice, task-oriented deans’ leadership behavior with fairness and shared vision- mission identity, handling internal conflicts, and external ethnic-based war influences were the major reasons for the identified higher competence quality statuses in CMHS, CAES, and CS, whereas the opposite direction decline of these factors were the causes for the low statuses of FSS and FH. Sustainable graduates’ core competence development leads to sustainable employability, labor force, and individual to nation-wide holistic sustainable development

Chronic Limb Threatening Ischemia (CLTI) represents the end stage form of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) and is associated to very poor prognosis with high risk of limb loss and mortality. It can be considered very similar to a terminal cancer disease reflecting a large impact on quality of life and healthcare costs. The aim of this study is to offer an overview of the relationship between CLTI, limb salvage and mortality with a focus on the need of a fast-track team-based management, that’s a driver to achieve better survival results. This review can be useful to improve management of this growing impact disease, and promote standardisation of care and communication between specialist and non-specialist health care professionals.

The subject of the research is the investigation of the behavior of railway tracks in locations with a significant change in the stiffness of the track. These locations can be designed from various structural elements and their materials, and this mainly results in a height change of the track level during its operation. These transition zones are monitored and expertly examined in order to detect undesirable deformations of the geometrical position of the track caused by the trains running. The transition zones are at the points where the fixed track transitions to the classic track bed, in our case it is their combination with bridge structures, especially at their supports. In Slovakia, under the conditions of the Railways of the Slovak Republic, the issue is topical within the framework of the modernization of trans-European railway corridors. The results of experimental measurements and their analysis will provide relevant data for subsequent research solutions for their new numerical modeling, which will ensure a smooth passage through these points of change without height fluctuations, vibrations, and shocks from the wheels of train sets.

We describe and analyze the Local Charged Particle Swarm Optimization (LCPSO) algorithm, that we designed to solve the problem of tracking a moving target releasing scalar information in a constrained environment using a swarm of agents. This method is inspired by flocking algorithms and the PSO algorithm for function optimization. Four parameters drive LCPSO: the number of agents; the inertia weight; the attraction/repulsion weight; and the inter-agent distance. Using APF, we provide a mathematical analysis of the LCPSO algorithm under some simplifying assumptions. First, the swarm will aggregate and attain a stable formation, whatever the initial conditions. Second, the swarm moves thanks to an attractor in the swarm, which serves as a guide for the other agents to head for the target. By focusing on a simple application of target tracking with communication constraints, we then remove those assumptions one by one. We show the algorithm is resilient to constraints on the communication range, and the behavior of the target. Results on simulation confirm our theoretical analysis. This provides useful guidelines to understand and control the LCPSO algorithm as a function of swarm characteristics as well as the nature of the target.

Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) ranks fifth as the most crucial cereal crop globally, yet its seed morphology remains relatively unexplored. This study investigated seed morphology in sorghum based on 115 mini core and 130 Senegalese germplasms. Eight seed morphology traits encompassing size, shape, and color parameters were assessed. Statistical analyses explored potential associations between these traits and resistance to three major sorghum diseases: anthracnose, head smut, and downy mildew. Furthermore, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) were conducted using phenotypic data from over 24,000 seeds and over 290,000 publicly available single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) through the Genome Association and Prediction Integrated Tool (GAPIT) R package. Significant SNPs associated with various seed morphology traits were identified and mapped onto the reference sorghum genome to identify novel candidate defense genes.

Metal nanoparticles are used to modify/enhance the properties of a polymer matrix for a broad range of applications in bio-nanotechnology. Here, we study the properties of polymer/gold nanoparticle (NP) nanocomposites through atomistic molecular dynamics, MD, simulations. We probe the structural, conformational and dynamical properties of polymer chains at the vicinity of a gold (Au) NP and a functionalized (core/shell) Au NP, and compare them against the behavior of bulk PE. The bare Au NPs were constructed via a systematic methodology starting from ab-initio calculations and an atomistic Wulff construction algorithm resulting in the crystal shape with the minimum surface energy. For the functionalized NPs the interactions between gold atoms and chemically adsorbed functional groups change their shape. As a model polymer matrix we consider polyethylene of different molecular lengths, from the oligomer to unentangled Rouse like systems. By computing the different properties the concept of the interface, and the interphase as well, in polymer nanocomposites with metal NPs are critically examined. Results concerning polymer density profiles, bond order parameter, segmental and terminal dynamics show clearly that the size of the interface / interphase, depends on the actual property under study. In addition, the anchored polymeric chains change the behavior/properties, and especially the chain density profile and the dynamics, of the polymer chain at the vicinity of the Au NP.

Features of nanosecond discharge development in a non-uniform electric field are studied experimentally. High spatial resolution imaging showed that thin luminous tracks of great length with a cross-section of a few microns are observed against the background of discharge glow in air and argon. It has been established that the detected tracks are adjacent to brightly luminous white spots on the electrodes or to the vicinity of these spots, and are associated with the flight of small particles. It is shown that the traces have various shapes and change from pulse to pulse. The particle tracks may look like curvy or straight lines. In some photos, they can change the direction of movement to the opposite. The particle trace was found to abruptly cut off and a bright flash is visible at the trail break point. The color of the tracks differs from that of the spark leaders, while the bands of the second positive nitrogen system dominate in the gap spectra during the existence of a diffuse discharge. Areas of blue light are evident near the electrodes, as well. Development of glow in the gap during its breakdown is revealed using an ICCD camera. Physical reasons for the observed phenomena are discussed.

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

The development of a Digital Track Model (DTM) within Kazakhstan's railway system presents an innovative approach to enhancing efficiency and safety across the network. This paper investigates the economic viability of DTM implementation, offering a comprehensive mathematical model that highlights potential reductions in maintenance costs and improvements in system accuracy and durability. The findings advocate for DTM's potential to significantly elevate railway operations, suggesting a pivotal step towards modernizing Kazakhstan's transit infrastructure.

Due to the non-contact measurement characteristics of trackside acoustic technology, it is now utilized for train bearing fault diagnosis. However, the relative motion between the train and the trackside acoustic detection device introduces Doppler aberration in the collected acoustic signal, which affects bearing fault diagnosis. Moreover, when a fault occurs in the train bearing, its acoustic signal exhibits cyclic smoothness characteristics that can be effectively analyzed using the cyclic smoothness method for more accurate judgment. In order to minimize diagnostic errors and enhance accuracy in bearing fault diagnosis, this study integrates bearing fault characteristics with Doppler aberration correction methods and cyclic smoothness techniques for current-stage bearings diagnostics. The overall time-domain graph becomes more compact with an approximately 50% increase in amplitude after correction compared to pre-correction values; other parameters experience enhancements ranging from 20-60%. These results validate the feasibility of our proposed approach and establish a framework for conducting bearing fault diagnosis based on cyclically smoothed Doppler aberration correction.

Abstract: Fertility tracking of menstrual cycles during perimenopause with a quantitative hormone monitor is a novel undertaking. Women in regular menstrual cycles have been tracking their fertility using different biomarkers since the 1960’s [1]. Presently, there are newer electronic hormonal devices used to track fertility that provide more exact and objective data to help delineate the fertile time frame of a woman’s cycle. These devices measure quantitative levels of estrogen, luteinizing hormone, progesterone, and follicle stimulating hormone, all of which occur at varying levels during the menstrual cycle. As women advance toward menopause, their cycles vary in length and their hormones fluctuate [2]. In this retrospective analysis, forty-two women aged 40 to 50 tracked their cycles over time and eight of the forty-two women used the quantitative hormonal device. With the use of this device, the perimenopausal period has revealed distinct hormonal cycle characteristics unique to this group of women. It is the purpose of this paper to discuss those cycle characteristics during perimenopause that were found with the use of the quantitative hormonal device.

: TiAl6V4 alloy is widely used in selective laser melting and direct laser melting. In turn, works devoted to the issue of how the track stacking scheme affects the value of mechanical properties is not enough. The influence of the Ti6Al4V alloy track trajectories on the microstructure and mechanical properties during direct laser deposition is studied in this article for the first time. The results were obtained on the influence of «parallel» and «perpendicular» technique of laying tracks in direct laser synthesis. All studied samples have a microstructure typical of the hardened two-phase condition titanium. It is shown that the method of laying tracks and the direction of load application during compression testing relative to the location of the tracks leads to a change in the ultimate strength of the Ti-6Al-4V alloy from 1794 to 1910 MPa. The plasticity of the Ti-6Al-4V alloy obtained by direct laser alloying can vary from 21.3 to 33.0% depending on the direction of laying the tracks and the direction of the compression test. The hardness of alloys varies in the range from 409 to 511 HV and depends on the method of laying the tracks and the direction of hardness measurements.