Background: New insecticides with novel modes of action such as neonicotinoids have recently been recommended for public health use by WHO. Resistance monitoring of such novel insecticides requires a robust protocol to monitor the development of resistance in natural populations. In this study, we comparatively used three different solvents to assess the susceptibility of malaria vectors to neonicotinoids across Africa.Methods: Mosquitoes were collected from May to July 2021 from three agricultural settings in Cameroon (Njombe-Penja, Nkolondom, and Mangoum), the Democratic Republic of Congo (Ndjili-Brasserie), Ghana (Atatam), and Uganda (Mayuge). Using the CDC bottle test, we compared the effect of three different solvents (ethanol, acetone, acetone+MERO) on the efficacy of neonicotinoids against Anopheles gambiae s.l. In addition, TaqMan assays were used to genotype key pyrethroid-resistant markers in An. gambiae and to evaluate potential cross-resistance between pyrethroids and clothianidin.Results: Lower mortalities were observed for all populations when using absolute ethanol or acetone alone as solvent (11.4- 51.9% mortality for Nkolondom, 31.7- 48.2% for Mangoum, 34.6- 56.1% for Mayuge, 39.4- 45.6% for Atatam, 83.7- 89.3% for Congo and 71.05- 95.9% for Njombe pendja) compared to acetone + MERO for which 100% mortality was observed for all the populations. Synergist assays (PBO, DEM and DEF) revealed a significant increase of mortality suggesting that metabolic resistance mechanisms are contributing to the reduced susceptibility. A negative association was observed between the L1014F-kdr mutation and clothianidin resistance with a greater frequency of homozygote resistant mosquitoes among the dead than among survivors (OR=0.5; P=0.02). However, the I114T-GSTe2 was in contrast significantly associated with a greater ability to survive clothianidin with a higher frequency of homozygote resistant among survivors than other genotypes (OR=2.10; P=0.013). Conclusions: This study revealed a contrasted susceptibility pattern depending on the solvents with ethanol/acetone resulting in lower mortality, thus possibly overestimating resistance, whereas the addition of MERO consistently increased the efficacy of neonicotinoids in terms of percentage mortalities and time to final mortality. The addition of MERO could however prevent the early detection of resistance development. We therefore recommend monitoring susceptibility using both acetone alone and acetone+MERO (8-10µg/ml for clothianidin) to capture the accurate resistance profile of the mosquito populations.

The vibrational excitation cross section of a diatomic molecule by positron impact is obtained using wavepacket propagation techniques. The dynamics was carried on a two-dimensional potential energy surface which couples a hydrogen-like harmonic oscillator to a positron via a spherically symmetric correlation polarization potential. The cross section for the excitation of the first vibrational mode is in good agreement with previous reports. Our model suggests that a positron couples to the target vibration by responding instantly to an interaction potential which depends on the target vibrational coordinate.

This paper presents a study on the development of the cross-curricular learning outcome (CCLO) "Ethical, environmental and professional responsibility" by the students of different Bache-lor’sDegrees taught at Universitat Politècnica de València. The work and development of this learning outcome entails great complexity, given the double dimension of responsibility that it involves. At the end of their training at the university, students are expected to show ethical, en-vironmental, and professional responsibility towards themselves and others. Interviews have been conducted with lecturers who work and assess this outcome in their subjects, most/all of them related to science and engineering. The objective was to identify the learning approach used at the different subjects to guarantee the acquisition of this CCLO by the students. A focus group has also been carried out with students to determine the importance they give to this learning outcome, and to know their degree of satisfaction with the training received. The methodology used to obtain the data from lecturers and students and to process the information to get a precise diagnosis is fully described in the paper. Results are satisfactory to some extent: most of the lecturers carry out appropriate activities and most of students achieve the expected proficiency level. Finally, recommendations are given to improve the development of this cross-curricular learning outcome.

Light absorption in single nanowires (NWs) is one of the most crucial factors for photovoltaic applications. In this paper, we carried out a detailed investigation of light absorption in single rectangular NWs (RNWs). We show that the RNWs exhibit improved light absorption compared with the square NWs (SNWs), which can be attributed to the symmetry-breaking structure that can increase the light path length by increasing the vertical side and the enhanced leaky mode resonances (LMRs) by decreasing the horizontal side. We found that the light absorption in silicon RNWs can be enhanced by engineering the horizontal and vertical sides, the photocurrent is significantly increased by 276.5% or 82.9% compared with that of the SNWs with the same side length as the horizontal side of 100 nm or the vertical side of 1000 nm, respectively. This work provides an effective way for designing high-efficiency single NW photovoltaic devices based on the symmetry breaking from the SNWs to RNWs.

Background: Physical activity is recommended to mitigate the incidence of obesity, but delivery of community wide initiatives is cumbersome. The challenges met by such programs are magnified when implementation transpires in the remote villages of Alaska. To overcome the difficulty of this challenge in the Arctic, the Skiku/AK Nordic cross-country skiing program was developed. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether access to Skiku/AK Nordic program would promote physical activity levels that met the daily recommendations for physical activity in Alaska Native children. Methods: Eight children (4 females and 4 males; 10±2 years/age) were recruited from Kaktovik, Alaska for participation in this study. Expert coaches and staff provided one week of cross-country ski instruction and access to ski equipment. Physical activity was monitored using ActiGraph GT3X+ accelerometers. Data collected from the devices was then downloaded and analyzed using ActiLife software. Results: The participants expended ~586 calories/day devoted to physical activity. Light and moderate physical activity was 68±38 minutes/day and 447±248 minutes/day, respectively. Conclusions: Delivery of the Skiku/AK Nordic program promoted favorable levels of physical activity in Alaska Native children. Further research is needed to assess the longitudinal and seasonal effectiveness of the Skiku/AK Nordic program.

Light trapping in single nanowires (NWs) are of vital importance for photovoltaic applications. However, circular NWs (CNWs) can limit its light-trapping ability due to high geometrical symmetry. In this work, we present a detailed study of light trapping in single NWs with an elliptical cross-section (ENWs). We demonstrate that the ENWs exhibit significantly enhanced light trapping compared with the CNWs, which can be ascribed to the symmetry-broken structure that can orthogonalize the direction of light illumination and the leaky mode resonances (LMRs). That is, the elliptical cross-section can simultaneously increase the light path length by increasing the vertical axis and reshape the LMR modes by decreasing the horizontal axis. We found that the light absorption can be engineered via tuning the horizontal and vertical axes, the photocurrent is significantly enhanced by 374.0% (150.3%, 74.1%) or 146.1% (61.0%, 35.3%) in comparison with that of the CNWs with the same diameter as the horizontal axis of 100 (200, 400) nm or the vertical axis of 1000 nm, respectively. This work advances our understanding of how to improve light trapping based on the symmetry breaking from the CNWs to ENWs and provides a rational way for designing high-efficiency single or self-assembled NW photovoltaic devices.

Purinergic receptors (P2X) are ATP-gated ion channels with an elusive role in the CNS. While the P2X2 and P2X4 subtypes are widely expressed in most neurons (i.e. at the edge of the postsynaptic densities of excitatory synapses), the direct contribution of P2X to synaptic transmission is uncertain. Several P2X have been shown to participate in receptor cross-talk: an interaction where one receptor (e.g. P2X2) influences the activity of another (e.g. GABA or AMPA receptors.) In this study, we tested for interactions between P2X2 or P2X4 and N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDARs). Using two-electrode voltage-clamp electrophysiology experiments in X. laevis oocytes, we demonstrate that both P2X2 and P2X4 interact with NMDARs in an inhibitory manner. When investigating the molecular domains responsible for this phenomenon, we found that the P2X2 c-terminus (CT) could interfere with P2X2 and P2X4 interactions with NMDARs. We also report that 11 distal CT residues on the P2X4 facilitate the P2X4-NMDAR interaction, and that a peptide consisting of these P2X4 CT residues (11C) can disrupt the interaction between NMDARs and P2X2 or P2X4. Collectively, these results provide new evidence for the modulatory nature of P2X2 and P2X4, suggesting they might play a more nuanced role in the CNS.

In wideband radar systems, the performance of motion parameters estimation can significantly affect the performance of object detection and the quality of inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) imaging. Although the traditional motion parameters estimation methods can reduce the range migration (RM) and Doppler frequency migration (DFM) effects in ISAR imaging, the computational complexity is high. In this paper, we propose a new fast non-searching motion parameters estimation method based on cross-correlation of adjacent echoes (CCAE) for wideband LFM signals. A cross-correlation operation is carried out for two adjacent echo signals, then the motion parameters can be calculated by estimating the frequency of the correlation result. The proposed CCAE method can be applied directly to the stretching system, which is commonly adopted in wideband radar systems. Simulational results demonstrate that the new method can achieve better estimation performances, with much lower computational cost, compared with existing methods. The experimental results on real radar data sets are also evaluated to verify the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed method compared to the state-of-the-art existing methods.

The Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD 2019 Diseases and Injuries Collaborators) found that diabetes significantly increases the overall burden of disease, leading to a 24.4% increase in disability-adjusted life years. Persistently high glucose levels in diabetes can cause structural and functional changes in proteins throughout the body, and the accumulation of protein aggregates in the brain is associated with the progression of Alzheimer's Disease (AD).To address this burden of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), a combined aerobic and resistance exercise program was developed based on the recommendations of the American College of Sports Medicine. The prospectively registered clinical trials (https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04626453, https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04812288) involved two groups: an Intervention group of older sedentary adults with T2DM and a Control group of healthy older adults who could be either active or sedentary. The completion rate for the 2-month exercise program was high, with participants completing on an average of 89.14% of the exercise sessions. This indicated that the program was practical, feasible, and well-tolerated, even during the COVID pandemic. It was also safe, requiring minimal equipment and no supervision. The exercise instructions were easy to understand, making them suitable for older adults with cognitive decline.The near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) based brain and muscle oxygenation study provided evidence on brain overactivation among older adults with T2DM, supporting the compensatory theory. It also demonstrated that the 2-month combined exercise intervention effectively reduced brain overactivation and contributed to improved cognitive function. Operational modal analysis showed an exercise-related effect on the very low-frequency hemodynamic oscillations cluster, which may be associated with better vascular muscle and/or perivascular neurogenic regulation. Furthermore, we personalized the exercise duration and interval based on muscle oxygenation during physical tasks, leading to improvements in muscle oxidative capacity within just two months. This finding has practical implications for physical therapists, as they can target muscle oxygenation changes during physical tests to prescribe appropriate exercise doses for enhancing physical performance.

The deformation monitoring information of concrete dams contains some high-frequency com-ponents, and the high-frequency components are strongly nonlinear, which reduces the accuracy of dam deformation prediction. In order to solve such problems, this paper proposes a concrete dam deformation monitoring model based on empirical mode decomposition (EMD) combined with wavelet threshold noise reduction and sparrow search algorithm (SSA) optimization of long short-term memory network (LSTM). The model uses EMD combined with wavelet threshold to decompose and denoise the measured deformation data. On this basis, the LSTM model based on SSA optimization is used to mine the nonlinear function relationship between the reconstructed monitoring data and various influencing factors. The example analysis shows that the model has good calculation speed, fitting and prediction accuracy and it can effectively mine the date char-acteristics inherent in the measured deformation, and reduce the influence of noise components on the modeling accuracy.

TThe number of supermarkets offering a grocery delivery has been increasing during the last years. Many studies deduce CO₂ emission savings using this concept. Since the delivery of groceries also consumes energy and produces emissions, break-even points can be calculated, from where the delivery has environmental advantages compared to the customer pickup. In this paper, influences of differing vehicle use on break-even points for savings of energy and CO₂ emissions are analyzed for the case of Haidhausen Süd, a city district of Munich in Germany. Internal combustion engine and electric vehicles are investigated to depict current as well as future trends. After an introduction to the used methodology, the potential to save energy and CO₂ emissions related to the delivery of groceries in the chosen district of Munich is evaluated. Afterwards, influences on the break even points are presented and discussed. As the results show, a delivery of groceries leads to energy and carbon dioxide savings in a wide range of private vehicle use for grocery shopping trips. Nevertheless, if the complete customer vehicle fleet is electrified, the use of delivery vehicles with an internal combustion engine can cause an additional environmental impact at the current modal split for shopping trips in Germany.

The retrofitting of existing reinforced concrete (RC) buildings with Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) panels presents a promising approach for enhancing seismic performance and overall structural resilience. However, effective integration of CLT with existing RC structures poses significant challenges, particularly concerning the design of connections between CLT panels and the RC structure. This paper introduces a novel connection that addresses these challenges by focusing on both structural and architectural considerations. Structurally, the connection is engineered to provide optimal stiffness, strength, and deformation capacity, ensuring robust performance under seismic and dynamic loads. Architecturally, the design incorporates a pre-defined weak component that facilitates easy access and rapid replacement of damaged parts, thereby reducing downtime and maintenance efforts. The proposed connection was evaluated through a series of monotonic and cyclic loading tests, demonstrating its structural efficiency and reliability. The results indicate that the new connection system not only meets the necessary structural requirements but also offers practical benefits for maintenance and repair, contributing to the overall sustainability and resilience of retrofitted RC buildings. This innovative approach represents a significant advancement in the field of structural retrofitting, providing a viable solution for integrating CLT panels into existing RC frameworks.

This study explores the comparative performance of FinBERT, GPT-4, and Logistic Regression for sentiment analysis and stock index prediction using the NGX All-Share Index dataset. By leveraging advanced language models like GPT-4 and FinBERT, alongside a traditional machine learning model, Logistic Regression, we aim to classify market sentiment, generate sentiment score, and predict market price movements. The models were assessed using metrics such as accuracy, precision, recall, F1 score, and ROC AUC. Results indicate that Logistic Regression outperformed both FinBERT and GPT-4, with an accuracy of 81.83% and a ROC AUC of 89.76%. GPT-4 predefined approach exhibited a lower accuracy of 54.19% but demonstrated strong potential in handling complex data. FinBERT, while offering more sophisticated analysis, was computationally demanding and yielded a moderate performance. Hyperparameter optimization using Optuna and cross-validation techniques ensured the robustness of the models. This study highlights the strengths and limitations of these approaches in stock market prediction and presents Logistic Regression as the most efficient model for this task, with FinBERT and GPT-4 showing promise for future exploration.

Background: Chronic diseases are major causes of morbidity, disability, and death worldwide. In many cases, they are potentially preventable and treatable. Glaucoma is one of the leading causes of morbidity and blindness, the early recognition of which can help reduce the adverse outcomes of the disease. Health illiteracy among these patients and the absence of self-management of these diseases are barriers to effective management worldwide. Therefore, the present study aimed to calculate the level of health literacy and activity level of patients’ activation in self-management and to explore the link between them among patients with glaucoma in outpatient clinics. Material and methods: Convenience sampling of patients with glaucoma attending the outpatient ophthalmology clinics of a university hospital in Heraklion-Greece was performed. Convenience sampling was used to recruit 312 participants. Data were collected between November 2023 and May 2024. The Patient Activation Measure-13 (PAM-13) questionnaire, in its Greek version, was used to evaluate patients’ activation level in self-management, whereas the Greek version of the European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire 16 (HLS-EU-16) was used to assess health literacy. Results: Participants were classified as level 1(disengaged & overwhelmed) level in self-management (= 40.7, SD: ±29.9) and a sufficient health literacy level (= 10.7, SD ±3.7). However, there was no statistically significant relationship between health literacy levels and patient activation in self-management (p=0.602). Conclusions: Glaucoma patients experience challenges with health literacy and self-management activation, though there is no significant relationship between these two parameters. Multifaceted interventions seem essential for enhancing patients’ activation. Further research involving larger sample sizes, multi-center studies, and interventional design is needed.

Background/Objectives: Population aging is rapidly increasing, and the importance of preventive medicine has been stressed. Health checkup, diet, and exercise are of paramount importance. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a personalized dual-task intervention that combined exercise with cognitive tasks in improving physical and cognitive functions among independently living elderly individuals. Methods: Participants were aged >65 years who were mostly independent in their activities of daily living, divided into 2 groups. The group receiving the 20-min robot-assisted session was compared to the group receiving traditional functional restoration training. This randomized trial assessed the impact of this intervention on the 30-s chair stand test score and Montreal Cognitive Assessment-Japanese version score of the participants. Results: Both scores significantly improved in the intervention group, indicating enhanced lower-limb function and cognitive capabilities. Conclusions: These findings suggest that integrating cognitive tasks with physical exercise can be a potent strategy to improve overall well-being in the elderly, offering valuable insights for designing comprehensive preventive health programs tailored to this demographic.

Opportunistic networks, an evolution of mobile Ad Hoc networks (MANETs), offer decentralized communication without relying on preinstalled infrastructure, enabling nodes to route packets through different mobile nodes dynamically. However, due to the absence of complete paths and rapidly changing connectivity, routing in opportunistic networks presents unique challenges. This paper proposes a novel probabilistic routing model for opportunistic networks, leveraging nodes' meeting probabilities to route packets towards their destinations. The model dynamically builds routes based on the likelihood of encountering the destination node, considering factors such as last meeting time and acknowledgment tables to manage network overload. Additionally, an efficient message detection scheme is introduced to alleviate high overhead by selectively deleting messages from buffers during congestion. Furthermore, the proposed model incorporates cross-layer optimization techniques, integrating optimization strategies across multiple protocol layers to maximize energy efficiency, adaptability, and message delivery reliability. Through extensive simulations, the effectiveness of the proposed model is demonstrated, showing improved message delivery probability while maintaining reasonable overhead and latency. This research contributes to the advancement of opportunistic networks, particularly in enhancing connectivity and efficiency for Internet of Things (IoT) applications deployed in challenging environments.

The satellite Earth observation (EO) sector is burgeoning with hundreds of commercial satellites being launched each year, delivering a rich source of data that could be exploited for societal benefit. Data streams from the growing constellation of commercial satellites are of variable quality, limiting the potential for their combined use in science applications that need long time-series data from multiple sources. The quality of calibration performed on optical sensors onboard many satellite systems is highly variable due to calibration methods, sensor design, mission objective, budget, or other operational constraints. A small number of currently operating well-characterised satellite systems with onboard calibration, such as Landsat-8/9, Sentinel-2, and planned future missions like the NASA Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory (CLARREO) Pathfinder, the European Space Agency (ESA) Traceable Radiometry Underpinning Terrestrial and Helio Studies (TRUTHS), and LIBRA from China, are considered benchmarks for optical data quality due to their traceability to international measurement standards. This paper describes the concept of a space-based transfer calibration radiometer called the Satellite Cross-Calibration Radiometer (SCR) that would enable the calibration parameters from satellites such as Landsat-8/9, Sentinel-2, or other benchmark systems to be transferred to a range of commercial optical EO satellite systems while in orbit. A description of the key characteristics of the SCR to successfully operate in orbit and transfer calibration from Reference systems to Client systems is presented. A system like the SCR in orbit could complement SI-Traceable satellites (SITSats) to improve data quality and consistency and facilitate the interoperable use of data from multiple optical sensor systems for delivering higher returns on the global investment in EO.

Financial stress can have significant implications for individuals, businesses, asset prices and the economy as a whole. This study examines the nonlinear structure and dynamic changes in the multifractal behavior of cross-correlation between the financial stress index (FSI) and four well-known commodity indices, namely Commodity Research Bureau Index (CRBI), Baltic Dry Index (BDI), London Metal Index (LME) and Brent Oil prices (BROIL), using multifractal detrended cross correlation analysis (MFDCCA). For analysis, we utilized daily values of FSI and commodity index prices from 16th June 2016 to 9th July 2023. The following are the most important empirical findings: (I) All of the chosen commodity market indices show cross correlations with the FSI and have notable multifractal characteristics. (II) The presence of power law cross-correlation implies that a noteworthy shift in FSI is likely to coincide with a considerable shift in the commodity indices. (III) The multifractal cross-correlation is highest between FSI and Brent Oil (BROIL) and lowest with LME. (IV) The rolling windows analysis reveals a varying degree of persistency between FSI and commodity markets. The findings of this study have a number of important implications for commodity market investors and policymakers.

The cost effective design of tidal turbines requires a good estimation of the loading cycles and their extrema that are related to the unsteady fluctuations of the current velocity. Apart from the ambient turbulence, the main source of velocity fluctuations is the presence of surface waves. In the present study, we analyse the effect of waves propagating against the current on the performance and the loads of a twin vertical axis tidal turbine by an experimental approach at a 1/20 scale. Overall, the results show little or no effect of the waves on the average power and loads compared to the condition with current only, but a significant impact on their standard deviation that rises linearly with the waves amplitude. The drag, lift and pitching moment show extended ranges up to 7.5 times higher and extreme values exceedance by 60 to 100 % with irregular waves compared to the condition without waves. Those load and power fluctuation increase are fully due to the presence of waves as the coherence function between the rotor torque or the loads and the velocity spectra exceed 0.5 on the whole wave frequency bandwidth. The results also reveal a rotational sampling of the waves by the rotors that had also been observed on horizontal axis turbines. From a structural design point of view, the authors recommand to conduct tests in irregular wave conditions as the loads range and extreme values are 1.5 to 2 times higher than those encountered with regular waves of the same significant height and period.

(1) Background: We aimed to identify factors associated with the presence of apical lesions (AL) on panoramic radiographs and to evaluate the predictive value of the identified factors. (2) Methodology: Panoramic radiographs from 1071 patients (age: 11-93 a, mean: 50.6 a ± 19.7 a) with 27532 teeth were included. Each radiograph was independently assessed by five experienced dentists for AL. A range of shallow machine learning algorithms (logistic regression, k-nearest neighbor, decision tree, random forest, support vector machine, adaptive and gradient boosting) were employed to identify factors on patient and tooth level associated with AL and to predict AL. (3) Results: AL were detected in 522 patients (48.7%) and 1133 teeth (4.1%), whereas males showed a significantly higher prevalence than females (52.5%/44.8%; p<0.05). Logistic regression found that an existing root canal treatment was the most important risk factor (adjusted Odds Ratio 16.89; 95% CI: 13.98-20.41), followed by the tooth type ‘molar’ (2.54; 2.1-3.08) and the restoration with a crown (2.1; 1.67-2.63). Associations between factors and AL were stronger and accuracy higher when using less complex models like decision tree (F1 score: 0.9 (0.89-0.9)). (4) Conclusions: The presence of AL was higher in root-canal treated teeth, those with crowns and molars. More complex machine learning models did not outperform less complex ones.

Chaphamaparvovirus (ChPV) is an ancient virus that has been detected in a variety of hosts. In this study, based on the phylogenetic analysis and the adaptability of ChPV to multiple hosts, we evaluated the potential of feline (FeChPV) and canine ChPV (CaChPV) for cross-species transmis-sion. Phylogenetic analysis showed that FeChPV and CaChPV were closely related. Notably, two strains of ChPVs isolated from domestic cats and 2 from dogs clustered together with CaChPVs and FeChPVs, respectively, suggesting the stringent boundaries between canine and feline ChPV may be broken. Further analysis revealed that CaChPV and FeChPV were more adapted to dogs than to cats, strongly suggesting the possibility of unidirectional or bidirectional transmission be-tween dogs and cats. Mutation analysis identified several shared mutations in cross-species-transmissible strains that were not located within immune epitopes. Furthermore, the VP struc-tures of FeChPV and CaChPV exhibited a high degree of similarity across both cross-species-transmissible and non-cross-species-transmissible strains. However, definitive experimental evi-dence is lacking, and its capacity for cross-species transmission should be approached with cau-tion and elucidated in further studies.

In today's world, news events are emerging incessantly. Classifying the same event reported by different countries is of significant importance for public opinion control and intelligence gathering. Due to the diverse types of news, relying solely on translators would be costly and inefficient, while depending solely on translation systems would incur considerable performance overheads in invoking translation interfaces and storing translated texts. To address this issue, we mainly focus on the clustering problem of cross-lingual news. To be specific, we use a combination of sentence vector representations of news headlines in a mixed semantic space and the topic probability distributions of news content to represent a news article. In the training of cross-lingual models, we employ knowledge distillation techniques to fit two semantic spaces into a mixed semantic space. We abandon traditional static clustering methods like K-Means and AGNES in favor of the incremental clustering algorithm Single-Pass, which we further modify to better suit cross-lingual news clustering scenarios. Our main contributions are as follows: (1) We adopt the English standard BERT as the teacher model and XLM-Roberta as the student model, training a cross-lingual model through knowledge distillation that can represent sentence-level bilingual texts in both Chinese and English. (2) We use the LDA topic model to represent news as a combination of cross-lingual vectors for headlines and topic probability distributions for content, introducing concepts such as topic similarity to address the cross-lingual issue in news content representation. (3) We adapt the Single-Pass clustering algorithm for the news context to make it more applicable. Our optimizations of Single-Pass include adjusting the distance algorithm between samples and clusters, adding cluster merging operations, and incorporating a news time parameter.

This study investigates the applications of reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS) in heterogeneous downlink networks (HetNet). Due to the network densification, the small cell base station (SBS) interferes with the macrocell users (MUE). In this paper, we utilize RIS to mitigate cross-tier interference in an HetNet via directional beamforming by adjusting the phase shift of the RIS. We consider an RIS-assisted HetNet consisting of multiple SBS nodes and MUEs that utilize both direct paths and reflected paths. Therefore, the aim of this study is to maximize the sum rate of all MUEs by jointly optimizing the transmit beamforming of the macrocell base station (MBS) and the phase shift of the RIS. An efficient RIS reflecting coefficients-based optimization (RCO) is proposed based on a successive convex approximation approach. Simulation results are provided to show the effectiveness of the proposed scheme in terms of its sum rate in comparison with the scheme HetNet without RIS and the scheme HetNet with RIS but with random phase shifts.

This research was conducted with the aim of knowing how to compare the financial performance of the oil and gas trading industry with cross-sectional analysis techniques. The type of research conducted in this research is qualitative research with research objects at several companies, namely PT Radiant Utama Interinsco Tbk, PT Elnusa Tbk, PT AKR Corporindo Tbk, and PT Aneka Gas Industri Tbk. The data used in this study comes from secondary data, namely the internet in the form of company financial reports for the 2019-2021 period obtained from the Indonesia Stock Exchange. The results of this study indicate that PT Radiant Utama Interinsco Tbk has the best financial performance on inventory turnover ratio and average age, PT Elnusa Tbk has good inventory performance on current ratio, quick ratio, DAR, and DER., PT AKR. Corporindo Tbk has performed well on the ratios of TIE, FCC, Dividend Payout, Dividend Yield, and PER. PT Aneka Gas Industri Tbk has performed well on the ratio of Receivables Turnover Ratio and Average Age of Receivables.

Introduction: This study explores exposure to misinformation, COVID-19 risk perception, and confidence towards the government as predictors to negative attitudes toward the COVID-19 vaccine. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was carried out from 30 June to 30 August 2021 involving 775 respondents. The survey instrument for the questionnaire is an adaptation from various different studies consisting of five main variables: 1) misinformation about vaccination; 2) risk perception toward COVID-19; 3) attitudes toward the vaccination programme; 4) intention to get vaccinated; and 5) public confidence in the government in executing the vaccination programme. Results: The results of this study indicate that higher exposure to misinformation led to higher levels of negative attitudes toward the COVID-19 vaccine. When the perceived risk of COVID-19 infection was high, mistrust of vaccine benefits was low but there were also higher worries about the future effects of the vaccine. Confidence in government was associated with lower negative attitudes toward the COVID-19 vaccine. Conclusion: The results of this study may help develop an understanding of negative attitudes toward vaccinations in Malaysia and its contributing factors.

Objective: The aim of this study was to provide a new machine learning method to determine temporal events and inner-cycle parameters (e.g., cycle, poles and skis contact and swing time) in cross-country roller ski skating on the field, using a single deported inertial measurement unit (IMU). Methods: The developed method is based on long short-term memory neural networks to detect poles and skis initial and final contact with the ground during the cyclic movements. Eleven athletes skied four laps of 2.5 km at low and high intensity using skis with two different rolling coefficients. They were equipped with IMUs attached to the upper back, lower back and to the sternum. Data from force insoles and force poles were used as reference system. Results: The IMU placed on the upper back provided the best results, as the LSTM network was able to determine the temporal events with an accuracy ranging from 49 to 55 ms and the corresponding inner-cycles parameters were calculated with a precision of 63 to 68 ms. The method detected 95% of the events for the poles and 87% of the events for the skis. Conclusion: The proposed LSTM method provides a promising tool for assessing temporal events and inner-cycle phases in roller ski skating showing the potential of using a deported IMU to estimate different spatio-temporal parameters of human locomotion.

This article aims to identify the current development of cross-border tourism between Vietnam and China. The paper analyzes the perception and strategy of cross-border tourism development in the two countries, especially in the context of China’s implementation of the “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI). The article emphasizes that Vietnam and China have recently made efforts to promote cross-border tourism development. At the same time, Vietnam and China see cross-border tourism development as a significant part of comprehensive border cooperation between the two countries. However, the development plans for cross-border tourism between the two countries are still mainly on the desk, not yet implemented effectively. Thus, its achievements are relatively modest. Besides, the article emphasizes that the interests of the people living in the border area, especially the Vietnam side, are almost “forgotten” in the development of cross-border travel between the two countries. Besides, the article also analyzes the challenges that the two sides are facing, especially the Vietnam side, in promoting the development of cross-border tourism between the two countries.

Background: Dengue is the most common arthropod-borne sickness worldwide, impacting at least 50 million people each year. The dengue virus has four primary serotypes. Infection with one serotype confers homotypic immunity but not heterologous immunity, and secondary infections may be more severe. Although blood transfusions and organ donations have also been observed, the Aedes aegypti mosquito is the primary vector for the transmission of dengue. Infection causes a continuum of clinical illness, from asymptomatic infection to dengue fever, DHF, and dengue shock syndrome (DSS).Aim: To assess the presence of anti DENV IgG and anti DENV IgM antibodies specific to the four dengue serotypes in blood donor service donors and the importance of pre-donation screening in routine blood collection procedures.Method: 3 mL of peripheral venous blood from 507 blood donors was collected in tubes with BD vacutainer gel tube for serum separation after epidemiological records were reviewed. After that, serum was separated and tests were performed by SD Bioline Dengue Duo. Participants in the study completed a social and epidemiological questionnaire that contained information such as age, gender, and dengue diagnosis.Result: Out of the 507 blood samples that were taken, 473 (93.3%) came from male blood donors, while the remaining 34 (6.7%) belonged to female blood donors. The ratio of males to females is 13.91 to 1. The age range is 18–60 years, and the mean and standard deviation are both 27.7 and 6.5. 183 of the 507 samples produced anti DENV IgG positivity, while 324 did not. The ratio of positive to negative was 1.25:2.Conclusion: According to the findings of this study, quantitative methods for determining the presence of anti-dengue antibodies or detecting the dengue virus in blood donors in endemic areas should be devised in order to ensure the quality of blood transfusions.

Having valid and reliable tools that help health professionals to assess fear in children undergoing medical procedures is essential to offer humanized and quality of care in the paediatric population. The aim of this study was to develop the cross-cultural adaptation and the evaluation of the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the “Child Medical Fear Scale” in its shortened version (CMFS-R). The design consisted of two phases, first of cross-cultural adaptation and second of the psychometric validation of the CMFS-R with a sample of 262 children from Spain. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to assess construct validity and the Cronbach alpha and the adjusted item-total score correlation coefficients were performed to study reliability. The results confirmed internal consistency and construct validity of the Spanish version of the CMFS-R, indicating that the scale has an acceptable level of validity and reliability. Therefore, this study brings a new version of the scale to assess fear related to medical procedures for use in the Spanish paediatric population.

The uptake of buildings employing cross-laminated timber (CLT) assemblies and designed to Passivhaus standard has accelerated internationally over the past two decades due to several factors including design responses to the climate crisis by decarbonising the building stock. Structural CLT technology and the voluntary Passivhaus certification both show measurable benefits in reducing energy consumption, while contributing to durability and indoor comfort. However, there is a general lack of evidence to support a fast uptake of these technologies in Australia. This paper responds to the compelling need of providing quantitative data and adoption strategies, it explores their combined application as a potential pathway for climate-appropriate design of energy-efficient and durable mass timber envelope solutions for subtropical and tropical Australian climates. Hygrothermal risk assessments of interstitial condensation and mould growth of CLT wall assemblies inform best-practice design of mass timber buildings in hot and humid climates. This research found that the durability of mass timber buildings located in hot and humid climates may benefit from implementing the Passivhaus standard to manage interior conditions. The findings also suggested that climate-specific design of the wall assembly is critical for mass timber buildings, in conjunction with excellent stormwater management practices during construction and corrosion protection for metallic fasteners.

Two ligands, 1, 3-bis(4-carboxyphenyl)imidazolium chloride and 4, 4՛-bipyridine, were employed to prepare nickel and zinc azolium based MOFs, 1 and 2 by the mixed ligand solvothermal approach. The positively charged azolium moieties in the imidazolium linker resulted in a charged environment in the as-synthesized frameworks. As a result, 1 and 2 demonstrated preferential adsorption of CO2 over methane molecules in the gas phase adsorption due to the higher quadruple moment of CO2, which interacts more with the positively charged frameworks. Besides, in aqueous media, 1 and 2 exhibited incredible adsorption efficiency for anionic dyes. In the following, MOF 1 was metallated at the carbene site of the azolium linker to generate the novel heterogeneous catalyst 1-Pd, which was successfully applied for Sonogashira and Suzuki-Miyaura coupling reactions without losing its activity after three cycles.

We report on the successful preparation of wet dressings hydrogels based on Chitosan-Poly(N-Vinyl-Pyrrolidone)-Poly(ethylene glycol)-Poly(acrylic acid) and Poly(ethylene oxide) by e-beam cross-linking in weakly acidic media, to be used for rapid healing and pain release of infected skin wounds. The structure and compositions of hydrogels investigated according to sol-gel and swelling studies, network parameters, as well as FTIR and XPS analyses showed the efficient interaction of the hydrogel components upon irradiation, maintaining the bonding environment while the cross-linking degree increasing with the irradiation dose and the formation of a structure with the mesh size in the range 11-67 nm. Hydrogels with gel fraction above 85% and the best-swelling properties in different pH solutions were obtained for hydrogels produced with 15 kGy. The hydrogels are stable in the simulated physiological condition of an infected wound and show appropriate moisture retention capability and the water vapor transmission rate up to 272.67 g m-2 day-1, to ensure fast healing. The hydrogels proved to have a significant loading capacity of ibuprofen (IBU), being able to incorporate a therapeutic dose for the treatment of severe pains. Simultaneously, IBU was released up to 25% in the first 2h, having a release maximum after 8h.

Mass crises are disruptive to people's mental health. The study aimed to explore mental distress during COVID-19 quarantine in a sample of university workers in Brazil. The survey included sets of questions about demographics, health, and support, an open question about major concerns, and the Clinical Outcome Routine Evaluation (CORE-OM), a measure of mental distress. 407 professionals participated in the study: mean age of 40 years (SD = 11.2), mostly female (67.8%), married (64.8%) and fulfilling social distancing to avoid COVID-19 infection (99%). Using the Consensual Qualitative Research for simple qualitative data (CQR-M) the main areas of concern were grouped into six domains, as follows: Work, Health, Isolation, Personal life and routine, Social environment, and Future. Many responses were multiple. They form categories indicating specific concerns within these domains. Quantitative data were analyzed by identifying the simple effects of potential predictors of mental distress. The results indicated medium effects of help with household chores, psychiatric treatment, age and physical exercise. Having someone available to listen was the only variable with a large effect in reducing mental suffering. The hybrid approach showed that the psychological experience during the pandemic is quite multifaceted and complex pointing new clues for public mental health.

This paper examined the multifractal properties of six acknowledged agro-meteorological parameters, such as reference evapotranspiration (ET0), wind speed (U), incoming solar radiation (SR), air temperature (T), air pressure (P), and relative air humidity (RH) of five stations in California, USA. The investigation of multifractality of datasets from stations with differing terrain conditions: Dagget, Bakersfield, Santa Maria, Los Angeles and San Diego using the Multifractal Detrended Fluctuation Analysis showed the existence of a long term persistence and multifractality irrespective of the location. The scaling exponents of SR and ET0 time series are found to be higher for stations with higher altitudes. Subsequently, this study proposed using the novel multifractal cross correlation (MFCCA) method to examine the multiscale-multifractal correlations properties between ET0 and other investigated variables. MFCCA could successfully capture the scale dependent association of different variables and the dynamics in the nature of their associations from seasonal to multi-annual time scale. The multifractal exponents of pressure and relative air humidity are consistently lower than the exponents of ET0, irrespective of station location. This study found that joint scaling exponent was nearly the average of scaling exponents of individual series in different pairs of variables. Additionally, the α-values of joint multifractal spectrum were lower than the α values of both of the individual spectra, validating two universal properties in the mutifractal cross correlation studies for agro-meteorological time series. The temporal evolution of cross-correlation showed similar pattern for all pair-wise associations involving ET0, except for the RH-ET0 link.

In this project, we use a statistical multiple regression to study the impact of eight various predictors (relative compactness, surface area, wall area, roof area, overall height, orientation, glazing area, glazing area distribution) to estimate the cooling load energy efficiency of residential buildings. We try to analyze and visualize the effect of each predictor with each of the response variable using different classical statistical analysis tools used in describing linear models, in such a way so that we can find out the most strongly related predictor variables. Before starting all of this, we use the idea of model selection by stepwise regression technique and compare the AIC of these models and identified a better model between all of them. Then, we compare a classical linear regression approach by simulations on 768 diverse residential buildings show that we can predict CL with low mean absolute error. By using ANOVA we determine variation in the different residuals. Also, we use non constant variance test to verify it. Furthermore, we check leverage and influence points as well as outliers as well as determined cook distance for influential points. By taking box cox transformation and weights, we also introduce WLS technique to fit the model for better results and did all type of important analysis to understand the energy efficiency. Finally, we show 5-fold cross validation to verify our model.

Zika virus (ZIKV) is a flavivirus that originated in Africa but emerged in Latin America in 2015. In this region, other flaviviruses such as Dengue (DENV), West Nile, and Yellow Fever Virus (YFV) also circulate, allowing for possible antigenic cross-reactivity to impact viral infections and immune responses. Studies have found antibody mediated enhancement between DENV and ZIKV, but the impact of YFV antibodies on ZIKV infection has not been fully explored. ZIKV infections cause congenital syndromes, such as microcephaly, necessitating further research into ZIKV vertical transmission through the placental barrier. Recent advancements in biomedical engineering have generated co-culture methods that allow for in vitro recapitulation of the maternal: fetal interface. This study utilized a transwell assay, which is a co-culture model utilizing human placental syncytiotrophoblasts, fetal umbilical cells, and a differentiating embryoid body to replicate the maternal: fetal axis. To determine if cross reactive YFV vaccine antibodies impact the pathogenesis of ZIKV across the maternal fetal axis, maternal syncytiotrophoblasts were inoculated with ZIKV or ZIKV incubated with YFV vaccine anti-sera, and viral load was measured 72 hours post inoculation. The data show that the impact of YFV on ZIKV replication is cell line dependent. In differentiating embryoids, the presence of YFV antibodies enhanced ZIKV infection. Since viral pathogenesis, and the impact of antigenic cross-reactive antibodies, is cell line specific at the maternal-fetal axis, this suggests there may be discreet mechanisms that impact congenital ZIKV infections.

Background: Public misconception and demand for the indication of antibiotics could lead to inappropriate prescribing and consumption. Successful treatment can only be achieved when the public and industrial users have knowledge on antibiotic use and resistance. This survey is aimed to assess antibiotic usage and knowledge regarding antibiotics and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) among undergraduate students of Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD), public university located in Brunei Darussalam. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed using a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire was adapted from the World Health Organization (WHO) Antibiotic Resistance, Multi-country public awareness survey distributed online. Students at UBD were invited to participate in the online survey through internal email. The questionnaire consisted of 5 sections: demographic information, antibiotic usage, knowledge on antibiotics, antibiotic resistance (AMR) and use of antibiotics in agriculture. Data were analyzed descriptively and appropriate inferential statistics was used accordingly. Cronbach’s alpha was also done to determine the internal consistency. The section on antibiotic use and knowledge showed good internal consistency of Cronbach’s alpha 0.66 and 0.86 respectively. Research ethics approval was obtained from the PAPRSB Institute of Health Sciences, Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD). Results: A total of 145 students returned the complete questionnaire. The result of the study found that 50% of the students had good level of knowledge of antibiotic and antimicrobial resistance with a mean total knowledge score of 11.4 out of 14. Respondents reported the use of antibiotic in the past (69%). Many of the students could identify the use of antibiotics for the treatment of bacterial infection. However, there were also students who incorrectly thought that antibiotics can be used for cold and flu (43%) and fever (41%). Moreover, 76% of the respondents mistakenly believed that antibiotic resistance is the result of the body becoming resistant to antibiotics. Only 12% of the respondents were found to have poor knowledge in the study. Conclusions: Misconceptions in regards to the use of antibiotics for conditions related to viral illnesses was noticed among the respondents in our study. Thus, improving knowledge on antibiotics is crucial to address those beliefs.

Since the COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 break out in Wuhan China from Dec. 2019, it has spread to hundreds of countries up to now. Scientists from all over the world have paid tremendous efforts to research and try to control the disease. Previous studies suggested that some of the wild animals could be intermediate hosts between humans and origination of SARS-CoV-2, and some companion animals of humans can be infected by SARS-CoV-2, which raised our curiosity about cross-infection of SARS-CoV-2 between animals and humans. Thus, we select some kinds of animals that might have contact with humans to estimate the susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 in different animals by evolutionary analysis of their receptors for SARS-CoV-2. The results show that some companion animals of the Felidae family like the cat has a higher infection possibility while the species of the Rodent family like the rat and mouse having close contact with humans show an opposite result, which consist with recent animal experiments and researches. These should raise concerns about cross-infection between human and companion animals or animals having close contact with humans which might turn animals into depositaries of the coronavirus even after control of SARS-CoV-2 spreading and cause second or more waves of infections after social reopening. Another side of our results stands by the opinion that bioinformatic analysis can be consistent with experiments in some respects so that we can prevent unnecessary sacrifice of laboratory animals in future experiments.

An appearance model plays a crucial rule in multi-target tracking. In traditional approaches, the two steps of appearance modeling i.e visual representation and statistically similarity measure are modeled separately. Visual representation is achieved either through hand-crafted features or deep features and statically similarity is measure through a cross entropy loss function. A loss function based on cross-entropy (KL-divergence, mutual information) find closely related probability distribution for the targets. However, if the targets have similar visual representation, it ends up mixing the targets. To tackle this problem, we come up with a synergetic appearance model named Single Shot Appearance Model based on Siamese neural network. The network is trained with a contrastive loss function for finding the similarity between different targets in a single shot. The input to the network is two target patches and based on their similarity, a contrastive score is output by the network. The proposed model is evaluated on accumulative dissimilarity metric on three datasets. Quantitatively, promising results are achieved against three baseline methods.

Abstract Optimal targeting of nanoparticles (NP) to dendritic cells (DCs) receptors to deliver cancer-specific antigens is key to an efficient induction of anti-tumor immune responses. Poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) nanoparticles containing tètanus toxoid and gp100 melanoma-associated antigen, toll-like receptor adjuvants were targeted to the DC-SIGN receptor in DCs by specific humanized antibodies or by ICAM3-Fc fusion proteins mimicking natural ligand. Despite higher binding and uptake efficacy of anti-DC-SIGN antibody-targeted NP vaccines than ICAM3-Fc ligand, no difference were observed in DC activation markers CD80, CD83, CD86 and CCR7 induced. DCs loaded with NP coated with ICAM3-Fc appeared more potent in activating T cells via cross-presentation than antibody-coated NP vaccines. This fact could be very crucial in the design of new cancer vaccines.

Multi-task Gaussian processes (MTGPs) are a powerful approach for modeling structured dependencies among multiple tasks. Researchers on MTGPs have contributed to enhance this approach in various ways. Current MTGP methods, however, cannot model nonlinear task correlations in a general way. In this paper we address this problem. We focus on spectral mixture (SM) based kernels and propose an enhancement of this type of kernels, called multi-task generalized convolution spectral mixture (MT-GCSM) kernel. The MT-GCSM kernel can model nonlinear task correlations and mixtures dependency, including time and phase delay, not only between different tasks but also within a task at the spectral mixture level. Each task in MT-GCSM has its own generalized convolution spectral mixture kernel (GCSM) with a different number of convolution structures and all spectral mixtures from different tasks are dependent. Furthermore, the proposed kernel uses inner and outer full cross convolution between base spectral mixtures, so that the base spectral mixtures in the tasks are not necessarily aligned. Extensive experiments on synthetic and real-life datasets illustrate the difference between MT-GCSM and other kernels as well as the practical effectiveness of MT-GCSM.

Background: In rheumatoid arthritis (RA), anti-citrullinated protein/peptide antibodies (ACPAs) are responsible for disease onset and progression, however, our knowledge is limited on ligand binding affinities of autoantibodies with different citrulline-peptide specificity. Methods: Citrulline-peptide specific ACPA IgGs were affinity purified and tested by ELISA. Binding affinities of ACPA IgGs and serum antibodies were compared by surface plasmon resonance (SPR) analysis. Bifunctional nanoparticles harboring a multi-epitope citrulline-peptide and a complement activating peptide were used to induce selective depletion of ACPA producing B cells. Results: KD values of affinity purified ACPA IgGs varies between 10-6-10-8 M and inversely correlate with disease activity. Based on their cross-reaction with citrulline-peptides we designed a novel multi-epitope peptide, containing Cit-Gly and Ala-Cit motifs in two-two copies, separated with a short, neutral spacer. This peptide detects antibodies in RA sera with 66 % sensitivity and 98 % specificity in ELISA and is recognized by 90% of RA sera, while none of the healthy samples in SPR. When coupled to nanoparticles, the multi-epitope peptide specifically targets and depletes ACPA producing B cells ex vivo. Conclusions: The unique multi-epitope peptide designed on the basis of ACPA cross-reactivity might be suitable to develop better diagnostics and novel therapies for RA.

New class of biologically active and non-active compounds can be synthesized via transition metal mediated Suzuki cross coupling reaction that has a great impact on the advancement of organic chemistry. These resulted products can lend a helping hand in pharmaceutical and polymer chemistry for the betterment of mankind. Suzuki-Miyaura cross coupling reaction is one of the best tools through which many natural and non-natural compounds can be synthesized.

The stiffness of the myosin cross-bridges is a key factor in analysing possible scenarios to explain myosin head changes during force generation in active muscles. The seminal study of Huxley and Simmons (1971: Nature 233: 533) suggested that most of the observed half-sarcomere instantaneous compliance (=1/stiffness) resides in the myosin heads. They showed with a so-called T₁ plot that, after a very fast release, the half-sarcomere tension reduced to zero after a step size of about 60Å (later with improved experiments reduced to 40Å). However, later X-ray diffraction studies showed that myosin and actin filaments themselves stretch slightly under tension, which means that most (at least two-thirds) of the half sarcomere compliance comes from the filaments and not from cross-bridges. Here we have used a different approach, namely to model the compliances in a virtual half sarcomere structure in silico. We confirm that the T₁ curve comes almost entirely from length changes in the myosin and actin filaments, because the calculated cross-bridge stiffness (probably greater than 0.4 pN/Å) is higher than previous studies have suggested. In the light of this, we present a plausible modified scenario to describe aspects of the myosin cross-bridge cycle in active muscle. In particular, we suggest that, apart from the filament compliances, most of the cross-bridge contribution to the instantaneous T₁ response comes from weakly-bound myosin heads, not myosin heads in strongly attached states. The strongly attached heads would still contribute to the T₁ curve, but only in a very minor way, with a stiffness that we postulate could be around 0.1 pN/Å, a value which would generate a working stroke close to 100 Å from the hydrolysis of one ATP molecule. The new program can serve as a tool to calculate sarcomere elastic properties for any vertebrate striated muscle once various parameters have been determined (e.g. tension, T₁ intercept, temperature, X-ray diffraction spacing results).

Globally, the transport sector is a major contributor to air pollution. Currently in the UK, vehicle emissions contribute significant amounts of nitrogen oxide (NOx) and particulate matter (PM) pollution in urban areas. Low-emission zones policies have been used as an intervention to tackle air pollution, and in this context, the UK launched the Low- Traffic Neighbourhood scheme. This study investigates the impacts of the Low- Traffic Neighbourhood in Kings Heath, Birmingham, UK, to evaluate its impact in reducing air pollution and local community perspectives about the scheme and perceived impacts on health and well-being. The study employs a mixed-method ap-proach comprising air quality monitoring assessment and a survey questionnaire involving 210 residents. The findings reveal an increase in active travel and a reduction in air pollution levels in the years after the implementation of the scheme, although the area is still non-compliant with the 2021 WHO air quality guidelines. Nonetheless, the scheme has a polarizing effect and created a division within the local community about the overall scheme acceptance and spatial distribution of the scheme’s benefits. The study underscores the importance of comprehensive baseline data, long-term community engagement, and integration with broader urban planning initiatives to enhance the success of future Low-Neighbourhood Traffic schemes.

The average age of in-service bridges has increased in recent years in the United States. To address this issue, structural health monitoring and damage identification approaches can be employed to prioritize maintenance/replacement of aging bridges. Among the damage identification and operational health monitoring approaches, finite element (FE) model updating methods can offer a solution to evaluate the mechanics-based characteristics of bridges. However, in a real-world setting, unidentifiability and mutual dependency between model parameters, modeling errors, especially due to boundary conditions, as well as ill-conditioning of updating algorithms can pose challenges to the application of FE model updating methods. To address these challenges, this study presents a two-step FE model updating approach. In the first step, modal-based model updating is used to estimate linear model parameters mainly related to the stiffness of boundary conditions and material properties. In the second step, in order to refine parameter estimation accounting for nonlinear response behavior of the bridge, a time-domain model updating is carried out. In this step, boundary conditions are fixed at their final estimates using modal-based model updating. To prevent the convergence of updating algorithm to local solutions, the initial estimates for nonlinear material properties are selected based on their corresponding final estimates in the modal-based model updating. To validate the applicability of the two-step FE model updating approach, a series of forced-vibration experiments are designed and carried out on a pair of decommissioned and deteriorated prestressed bridge I-girders. After carrying out the two-step FE model updating, the final estimates of concrete compressive strength are shown to provide reasonable assessment of the damage extent in the girders.

Tracking and early identification of suspected cases are essential to control and prevent potential COVID-19 outbreaks. One of the most popular techniques used to track this disease is the use of Infrared cameras to identify individuals with elevated body temperatures. However, they are limited by their inability to be implemented in open public settings such as public parks or even outdoor recreational centers. This limits their ability to effectively track possible COVID-19 patients as open public recreational places such as parks, concert venues and other public venues are hotspots for the spreading of the virus. Other technological solutions such as thermal scanners require an individual to perform the actual testing as they are not individual standalone technologies. This method of testing can potentially cause the transmission of the virus between the tester and the individual getting tested. As can be seen, an alternative solution is essential to solving this issue. In this study, we aim to present the system, design and potential scope of a non-invasive system that can diagnose and identify potential COVID-19 patients using thermal and optical images of the individual using drone technology. The proposed system (COVIDRONE) combines multi-modal machine intelligence, computer vision and real-time monitoring to enable scalable monitoring. The system will also involve the use of machine learning algorithms for better and more accurate diagnosis. We envisage that development of such technologies may help in developing technological solutions to combat infectious disease threats in the future pandemics.

Confidence in intermodal transport has not yet been defined. There are many different approaches to the concept of trust. However, the authors embedded them in the light of the challenges of sustainability, linking with the shift paradigm. The objective of the article is to indicate the directions and criteria for the implementation of the shift paradigm, inscribed in the idea of sustainable transport. The auxiliary objective is to predict which countries in a given year will have the TRUST status, i.e. implement the shift paradigm, and which will not implement it (DISTRESS). The article uses taxonometric techniques and built a model using General Discriminant Analysis. On their basis, the utility function was approximated, including the directions of implementation of the shift paradigm depending on the scale of the environmental load of transport. In the course of the research, an original and innovative econometric model was constructed, pointing to three variables, which had the greatest impact on trust. Thanks to the cognitive value of the model, it is possible to identify individuals who deserve the trust, i.e. it will implement the shift paradigm, with 93% probability. In the future, it is worth expanding the research by models for each country.

MGMT promotor hypermethylation is the most important biomarker for predicting temozolomide sensitivity in aggressive glioblastoma (GBM), a disease with a poor prognosis. An MGMT status prediction without biopsy is mandatory for tailored therapy because methylated MGMT patients have better prognosis. To this end, this paper proposes the radiogenomic model for predicting the status of MGMT Promoter methylation in glioblastoma patients based on the multi-modal MRI data and the EfficientNet deep learning architecture. Perhaps using sophisticated machine learning-based non-invasive methods of genetic prognosis may decrease risky biopsies. The Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) sequences in the BraTS21 competition dataset include T1-weighted and contrast-enhanced images, T2-weighted images, and Fluid Attenuated Inversion Recovery (FLAIR) images. Image preprocessing consisted of normalization, scaling, and data augmentation Fourier transformations for cross-modal alignment. The EfficientNet-b0 model was initially pre-trained on ImageNet and then fine-tuned to the binary classification of methylation and unmethylated MGMT. The models were evaluated based on AUC-ROC, accuracy, and the F1 score. The model’s capability of accurately identifying MGMT methylation status was moderate, with an AUC-ROC score of 0.62393 at its best. These differences influenced validation findings: overfit and resulted in accuracy variations for the small or unbalanced datasets. Applying multimodal MRI data elevated feature extraction, proving that deep learning models have radiogenic predictive power. Therefore, this study demonstrates that ALC and DL models can noninvasively estimate MGMT promoter methylation status. They also suffer from problems of overfitting or generalization, which will require some optimization. It might be safer than biopsies and can enhance approaches to glioblastoma treatment.

In modern security situations, tracking multiple human objects in real-time within challenging urban environments is a critical capability for enhancing situational awareness, minimizing response time, and increasing overall operational effectiveness. Tracking multiple entities enables informed decision-making, risk mitigation, and the safeguarding of civil-military operations to ensure safety and mission success. This paper presents a multi-modal electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) and radio frequency (RF) fused sensing (MEIRFS) platform for real-time human object detection, recognition, classification, and tracking in challenging environments. By utilizing different sensors in a complementary manner, the robustness of the sensing system is enhanced, enabling reliable detection and recognition results across various situations. Specifically designed Radar tag and thermal tag can be used to discriminate friendly and non-friendly objects. The system incorporates deep learning-based image fusion and human object recognition and tracking (HORT) algorithms to ensure accurate situation assessment. After integrating into an all-terrain robot, multiple ground tests were conducted to verify the consistent HORT in various environments. The MEIRFS sensor system has been designed to meet the Size, Weight, Power, and Cost (SWaP-C) requirements for installation on autonomous ground and aerial vehicles.

In the present paper, a numerical analysis of the performance of microchannels featuring rectangular, trapezoidal, and double-trapezoidal cross-sections is presented. The fully developed laminar forced convection of a Newtonian fluid with constant properties is considered. The non-dimensional forms of governing equations are solved by setting slip velocity and uniform heat flux as boundary conditions. Model accuracy was established using the available scientific literature. The numerical results indicate that viscous dissipation effects led to a decrease in the average Nusselt number across all microchannels examined in this study. The degree of reduction is influenced by the cross-section, aspect ratio and Knudsen number. The lowest average Nusselt number values were observed under continuum flow conditions for all the microchannels investigated.

Background/Objectives: This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the relationship between swallowing function and serum albumin levels in Japanese older people (age ≥ 75 years). Methods: A total of 3258 participants (1325 males, 1933 females; mean age, 80.8 years) who had a dental checkup in Gifu City, Japan, between April 2020 and March 2021 were recruited. Swallowing function was assessed using the repetitive saliva swallow test, with poor swallowing function defined as swallowing fewer than three times in 30 seconds. A serum albumin level &lt; 3.6 G/dL was considered low. Results: In total, 78 participants (2%) had a low serum albumin level. These participants were significantly more likely to be older (p &lt; 0.001), male (p = 0.030), to have circulatory disease (p &lt; 0.001), support/care-need certification (p &lt; 0.001), poor tongue and lip function (p &lt; 0.001), poor swallowing function (p &lt; 0.001), and number of present teeth ≥ 20 teeth (p = 0.001). Furthermore, after adjusting for age, gender, circulatory disease, support/care-need certification, number of present teeth, tongue and lip function, and swallowing function, a low serum albumin level was positively associated with older (odds ratio [OR]: 1.115; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.064–1.169), male (OR: 2.208; 95% CI: 1.360–3.584), circulatory disease (OR: 1.829; 95% CI: 1.079–3.099), support/care-need certification (OR: 2.087; 95% CI: 1.208–3.606), and poor swallowing function (OR: 2.379; CI: 1.377–4.112). Conclusions: These results suggest a positive relationship between poor swallowing function and low serum albumin levels in Japanese older people.

A high-gain broadband circularly polarized crossed dipole antenna is designed. This antenna utilizes two pairs of cross dipoles and a pair of phase delay lines to form circularly polarized radiation. Open-circuit stubs are loaded on the four arms of these two pairs of cross dipoles to introduce new circularly polarized resonating frequency. A rectangular ring patch is introduced directly below the cross dipoles to form the third circularly polarized resonating frequency, thereby broadening the axial ratio bandwidth of the antenna. In addition, metal posts are loaded at the four right angles of the rectangular ring patch to increase the antenna gain. Measurement results show that the antenna achieves a 3dB axial ratio bandwidth of 29.2% (1.9 GHz-2.55 GHz) and maintains a gain of 7.5 dB within the passband, exhibiting good circularly polarized radiation performance.

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have accelerated the exploration of genotype-phenotype associations, facilitating the discovery of replicable genetic markers associated with specific traits or complex diseases. This narrative review explores the statistical methodologies developed using GWAS data to investigate relationships between various phenotypes, focusing on endometrial cancer, the most prevalent gynecological malignancy in developed nations. Advancements in analytical techniques such as genetic correlation, colocalization, cross-trait locus identification, and causal inference analyses have enabled deeper exploration of associations between different phenotypes, enhancing statistical power to uncover novel genetic risk regions. These analyses have unveiled shared genetic associations between endometrial cancer and many phenotypes, enabling identification of novel endometrial cancer risk loci and furthering our understanding of risk factors and biological processes underlying this disease. The current status of research in endometrial cancer is robust; however, this review demonstrates that further opportunities exist in statistical genetic that hold promise for advancing the understanding of endometrial cancer and other complex diseases.

We investigate regular damped oscillatory structures appearing in the "effective" form factor of various hadrons. The behavior of this form factor can be extracted from the experimental information on total cross sections, the processes $\sigma_{tot}(e^+e^- \to h \bar h)$, $h=\pi^{\pm}, K^{\pm}, K^0, p, n $ are examined. The apparent oscillations have been observed for the first time for the proton and we show, taking also other hadrons into the consideration, that they are an arbitrary artifact resulting from a very simplistic theoretical description based on an elementary three-parametric model. If the data are described by a more appropriate and well physically funded U\&A model, then the oscillations disappear. In addition, if the simple model is used to describe the data, one observes that the oscillations are opposite for particles which form an isospin dublet. We show, by using the U\&A model, that this feature is explained by the transformation properties of the corresponding states in the isotopic space.

This paper presents a compact wideband circularly polarized cross dipole antenna with low-pass filter response. It consists of two pairs of folded crossed dipole arms printed separately on both sides of the top substrate, and the two dipole arms on the same surface are connected by an annular phase-shifting delay line to generate circular polarization. A bent metal square ring and four small metal square rings around the cross dipoles are employed to introduce new resonant frequencies, effectively extending the impedance and axial ratio bandwidth. Four square patches printed on the middle substrate are connected to the ground plane by the vertical metal plates, in order to reduce the antenna height. Thus, a compact wideband circularly polarized antenna is realized. In addition, a transmission zero can be introduced at the upper frequency stopband by the bent metal square rings, without using extra filter circuits. For verification, the proposed model is implemented and tested. The overall size of the model is 90mm×90mm×33mm(0.37λ0×0.37λ0×0.14λ0, λ0 denotes the center operating frequency). The measured impedance bandwidth and 3 dB axial ratio bandwidth are 53.3% and 41%, respectively. More than 15 dB upper-band radiation suppression level is realized, indicating a good low-pass filter response.

The primary aim of this study is to investigate the relationship of the Mediterranean diet (MD) with metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its components in Caucasian subjects between 35 and 74 years. The secondary aim is to analyze sex differences. Methods: A cross‑sectional trial. This study utilized data from the EVA, MARK, and EVIDENT studies, a total of 3417 subjects with a mean age of 60.14±9.14 years (57% men). MetS was defined based on the Joint Scientific Statement National Cholesterol Education Program III. Waist circumference, blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose, and lipid profile were measured. Adherence to the MD was assessed with the 14-item Mediterranean Diet Adherence Screener (MEDAS) questionnaire used in the PREDIMED study. Good adherence was considered when the MD value was higher than the median value. Results: The mean value of the MEDAS questionnaire was 5.83±2.04; (Men 5.66±2.06 and women 6.04±1.99; p&lt;0.001). Adherence to the MD was observed by 38.6% (34.3% men and 40.3% women; p&lt;0.001). MetS was observed in 41.6% (39.0% men and 45.2%women p&lt;0.001). In the multiple regression analysis after adjusting for possible confounders, the mean MD value showed a negative association with the number of MetS components per subject (β=-0.336), and with the different components of MetS: Systolic blood pressure (β=-0.011), Diastolic blood pressure (β=-0.029), glycemia (β=-0.009), Triglycerides (β=-0.004), Waist circumference (β=-0.026), except with the HDL-cholesterol value which showed a positive association (β=0.021); (p&lt;0.001 in all cases). The adjusted logistic regression models showed that an increase in MDA decreases the probability of MetS (OR =0.56) and its components: blood pressure ≥130/85 mmHg (OR = 0.63), fasting plasma glucose ≥100 mg/dL (OR = 0.62); triglycerides ≥150 mg/dL (OR = 0.65); waist circumference ≥88 cm in women and ≥102 cm in men (OR = 0.74), and increases high-density lipoprotein cholesterol &lt;40 mg/dL in men or &lt;50 mg/dL in women (OR = 1.70); (p&lt;0.001 in all cases). The results by sex were similar, both in multiple regression and logistic regression. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that a greater adherence to the Mediterranean diet decreases the probability of presenting Mets globally and by sex.

The existing segmentation-based scene text detection methods mostly need complicated post-processing, and the post-processing operation is separated from the training process, which greatly reduces the detection performance. The previous method, DBNet successfully simplified post-processing and integrated the post-processing into a segmentation network. However, the training process of the model took a long time for 1200 epochs and the sensitivity to texts of various scales was lacking, leading to some text instances being missed. Considering the above two problems, we design the text detection Network with Binarization of Hyperbolic Tangent(HTBNet). First of all, we propose Binarization of Hyperbolic Tangent (HTB), optimized along with which, the segmentation network can expedite the initial convergent speed by reducing the amount of epochs from 1200 to 600. Because features of different channels in the same scale feature map focus on the information of different regions in the image, to better represent the important features of all objects in the image, we devise the Multi-Scale Channel Attention(MSCA). Meanwhile considering that multi-scale objects in the image cannot be simultaneously detected, we propose a novel module named Fused Module with Channel and Spatial(FMCS), which can fuse the multi-scale feature maps from channel and spatial dimension. Finally we adopt cross entropy as the loss function, which measures the difference between predicted values and ground truths. The experimental results show that HTBNet compared with lightweight models has achieved competitive performance and speed on Total-Text(F-measure:86.0%, FPS:30) and MSRA-TD500 (F-measure:87.5%, FPS:30).

This study aimed to conduct a cross-cultural adaptation of the development of the cat-owner/dog-owner relationship scales. The method encompassed several stages: conceptual, item, semantic, operational, measurement, and functional equivalence. Processes included translations, synthesis of translations, back-translations, consensus on the English versions, external evaluation by the original authors, expert committee evaluation, and pre-tests. The study involved surveying 342 pet owners throughout Brazil using a 20-item questionnaire. Data analyses utilized confirmatory factor analysis, covariance-based modeling, and multigroup analysis. The techniques confirmed that the scale preserved its psychometric properties and showed no variance between dog and cat owners, indicating that the measured constructs are universal and unaffected by specific cultural nuances. Hence, the cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the scale facilitate applying and testing concepts and measures in diverse contexts, enriching our understanding of the dynamics between owners and their pets (dogs and cats) in different living situations. In addition, this research holds particular significance in Brazil, given the country’s vast cultural diversity.

The increasing focus on the development of positioning techniques reflects the growing interest in applications and services based on indoor positioning. Many applications necessitate precise indoor positioning or tracking of individuals and assets, leading to rapid growth in products based on these technologies in certain market sectors. Ultrasonic systems have already proven effective in achieving the desired positioning accuracy and refresh rates. The typical signal used in ultrasonic positioning systems for estimating the range between the target and reference points, specifically the linear chirp, can undergo shape aberration due to the effects of acoustic diffraction when the aperture exceeds a certain limit. The extent of the aberration is influenced by the shape and size of the transducer, as well as the angle at which the transducer is observed by the receiver. This aberration also impacts the shape of the cross-correlation, causing it to lose its characteristic easily detectable single global peak. In such instances, cross-correlation techniques yield results with a significantly higher error than anticipated. In this study, an alternative technique to global peak detection is proposed, leveraging the inherent symmetry observed in the shape of the aberrated cross-correlation. The numerical simulations, performed using the academic acoustic simulation software Field II, conducted using a typical ultrasonic chirp and ultrasonic emitter, compare the classical and the proposed range techniques in a standard office room. The results demonstrate that the proposed technique enables accurate range estimation even in the presence of severe cross-correlation shape aberrations. This allows the use of emitting transducers with a much larger aperture than that allowed by the classical cross-correlation technique. Consequently, it becomes possible to have greater acoustic power available, leading to improved Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR).

The design of randomized controlled trials for low-resource settings has unique challenges. One challenge is ensuring recruitment success in the face of a lack of information about prevalence of disease in the population. What disease burden data may exist is old and from distant regions, adding guesswork into site design. This leads to a high chance that the sample size will not be recruited in any reasonable timeframe—a challenge even in high-resource settings. While cross-sectional prevalence studies could be used as a type of feasibility study informing trials by generating near real-time prevalence estimates for the future trial site, such studies take years to complete. This duration makes insertion of such a study in trial design impossible. An empirically supported combination of new approaches that sidesteps unnecessary hurdles is presented, the Pop-Up Prevalence with Private Ethics (PUPPE) design. PUPPE includes using a COVID-validated, more targeted method of data collection, use of accepted ethics review from universities or hospitals to avoid lengthy public ethics review, and—if needed—post-study in silico participant randomization. Only this design would enable clinical trial designers to insert fit-for-purpose prevalence studies within the design phase of their trials, leading to informative outcomes.

OSI model used to be common network model for years. In the case of ad hoc networks with dynamic topology and difficult radio communications conditions, gradual departure is happening from the classical kind of OSI network model with a clear delineation of layers (physical, channel, network, transport, application) to the cross-layer approach. The layers of the network model in ad hoc networks strongly influence each other. Thus, the cross-layer approach can improve the performance of an ad hoc network by jointly developing protocols using interaction and collaborative optimisation of multiple layers. The existing cross-layer methods classification is too complicated, because it’s based on the whole manifold of network model layers combinations, regardless their importance. In this work, we review ad hoc networks cross-layer methods, propose the new useful classification of cross-layer methods, and show future research directions in ad hoc networks cross-layer methods development. The proposed classification can help to simplify the goal-oriented cross-layer protocol development.

This research deals with risk assessment for human life, man-made infrastructure, and agriculture in a landslide-prone area using GIS-based spatial methods. The study area landslide inventory map was prepared based on previous landslide information, aerial photograph analysis, and several field observations. A total of 550 landslides have been included with 182 debris flow and 368 soil slides. All included landslides were classified into two groups by random selection; half were used for model calibration and the rest were used for cross-validation. In the analysis, fourteen causative factors were vastly used, such as aspect, slope, curvature, elevation, topographic wetness index, forest timber diameter, forest type, forest crown density, forest age, land-use, geology, soil drainage, soil depth, and soil texture. Moreover, to identify the interaction between occurred landslides and causative factors, the affected pixels were divided into different sub-classes using a frequency ratio method. Based on the total dataset, three landslide susceptibility maps were constructed using Bayesian prediction, likelihood ratio, and fuzzy set method. By evaluating cross-validation and success rate curve, model susceptibility results were plotted with a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and the area under the curve (AUC) was estimated. In addition, for risk assessment, each social data layer such as agriculture, house, industry, business, road, river, population intensity, monetary value, and vulnerability level was added based on the local standard and incident time and was converted into US dollars. During the analysis, each method hazard map was used with a specific group of thematic data layers. Subsequently, for preparing the probability table, study area total pixels and predictive landslide affected pixels were considered. Matching with the affected pixels, a standard of 5000 pixels was selected to run the final evaluation. Based on the results, the agricultural field showed the highest vulnerability and estimated risk of US $ 16.3 million. Further, the man-made infrastructure map showed a risk of US $ 31.3 million. The total estimated population casualties were 6.77, which was relatively similar to the published data.

This paper focuses on the impact of defects density and carrier capture cross-section area in the electron transport material (ETM), hole transport material (HTM), and absorber layers on the performance of perovskite solar cells and quantum efficiency (QE). Furthermore, the impact of defects density at the interface between ETM/absorber and absorber/HTM is also studied. SCAPS-1D software is used in the current study in determining solar cell performance. The proposed perovskite solar cell structure is a planar FTO/TiO2/ CH3NH3PbI3/ Cu2O. The results indicated that increasing the defect density in the absorber layer significantly affects cell performance, while in ETM and HTM layers, the cell parameters remain unaffected. It is also found that the defect capture cross-section has a similar behavior to the defect density in the main layers (ETM, absorber, and HTM). In addition, it is observed that by increasing the defects density in the ETM/absorber and absorber/HTM interfaces layer, the cell parameters FF, Jsc, and PCE have been slightly decreased, with no effect on Voc. Moreover, it is also noted that the quantum efficiency QE is sharply reduced. Finally, this paper introduced the correlation between the defect density and the capture cross-section, which is the first attempt to find such a relationship in perovskite solar cells to the knowledge of the authors.

Collagen, the most abundant structural protein found in mammals, plays a vital role as a constituent of the extracellular matrix (ECM) that surrounds cells. Collagen fibrils are strengthened through the formation of covalent cross-links, which involve complex enzymatic and non-enzymatic reactions. Lysyl oxidase (LOX) is responsible for catalyzing the oxidative deamination of lysine and hydroxylysine residues, resulting in the production of aldehydes, allysine, and hydroxyallysine. These intermediates undergo spontaneous condensation reactions, leading to the formation of immature cross-links, which are the initial step in the development of mature covalent cross-links. Additionally, non-enzymatic glycation contributes to the formation of abnormal cross-linking in collagen fibrils. During glycation, specific lysine and arginine residues in collagen are modified by reducing sugars, leading to the creation of Advanced Glycation End-products (AGEs). These AGEs have been associated with changes in the mechanical properties of collagen fibers. Interestingly, various studies have reported that plant polyphenols possess amine oxidase-like activity and can act as potent inhibitors of protein glycation. This review article focuses on compiling literature describing polyphenols with amine oxidase-like activity and antiglycation properties. Specifically, we explore the molecular mechanisms by which specific flavonoids impact or protect the normal collagen cross-linking process. Furthermore, we discuss how these dual activities can be harnessed to generate properly cross-linked collagen molecules, thereby promoting the stabilization of highly organized collagen fibrils.

The corrugated board is a versatile and durable material that is widely used in the packaging industry. Its unique structure provides strength and cushioning, while its recyclability and bio-degradability make it an environmentally friendly option. The strength of corrugated board depends on many factors, including the type of individual papers on flat and corrugated layers, the geometry of the flute, temperature, humidity, etc. This paper presents a new approach to analysis geometric features of corrugated boards based on the images. It allows for precise determination of the geometry of the corrugated layer, as well as the thickness of individual papers in all cardboard layers. The experimental set used in the work and the created software are characterized by high reliability and precision of measurement thanks to the use of an identification procedure based on image analysis and evolutionary algorithms. This allows to quickly find the main geometric characteristics of the corrugated board, which in turn leads to the possibility of performing numerical analyzes taking into account the real model of the corrugated board. Calculations made on a real (correctly mapped geometrically) model allow, for example, a more reliable analysis of the composition of the cardboard, and thus also to obtain greater savings in the optimization process.

Dyslipidemia is a disorder where abnormally lipid concentrations circulate in the bloodstream. The disorder is common in type 2 diabetics (T2D) and is linked with T2D comorbidities, particularly cardiovascular disease. Dyslipidemia in T2D is typically characterized by elevated plasma triglyceride and low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels. There is a significant gap in the literature regarding dyslipidemia in rural parts of Africa, where lipid profiles may not be routinely captured through standard surveillance activities. This study aimed to characterize the prevalence and demographic profile of dyslipidemia in T2D patients in the rural community of Ganadougou, Mali. We performed a cross-sectional study of 104 subjects with T2D in Ganadougou between November 2021 and March 2022. Demographic and lipid profiles were collected through cross-sectional surveys and blood tests. The overall prevalence of dyslipidemia in T2D patients was 87.5% (91/104), which did not differ by sex (p = .368). High low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) was the most common lipid abnormality (78.9%, [82/104]). Dyslipidemia was associated with age and hypertension status (p = .013 and p = .036, respectively). High total and high LDL-C parameters were significantly associated with hypertension (p = .029 and p = .006, respectively). In low-resource settings such as rural Mali, there is a critical need to improve infrastructure for routine dyslipidemia screening to guide its prevention and intervention approaches. The high rates of dyslipidemia observed in Gandadougou, consistent with concomitant increases in cardiovascular diseases in Africa suggest that lipid profile assessments should be incorporated into routine medical care for T2D patients in African rural settings.

The aim of this study was to adapt a treadmill-developed method for determination of inner-cycle parameters in cross-country roller ski skating for a field application. The method is based on detecting initial and final ground-contact of poles and skis during cyclic movements. Eleven athletes skied four laps of 2.5 km at low and high endurance-intensity, using two types of skis with different rolling coefficients. Participants were equipped with inertial measurement units (IMUs) attached to their wrists and skis, while insoles with pressure sensors and poles with force measurements were used as reference systems. The method based on IMUs was able to detect more than 97% of the temporal events compared to the reference system. The inner-cycle temporal parameters had a precision ranging from 49 to 59 ms, corresponding to 3.9% to 13.7% of the corresponding inner-cycle duration. Overall, this study showed good reliability of using IMUs on athlete’s wrists and skis to determine temporal events, inner-cycle parameters and the performed sub-techniques in cross-country roller ski skating in field-conditions.

The objectives of the research are to investigate the characteristics of the board of directors on the financial performance of the enterprise. Using a sample data from 52 construction and real estate enterprises listed on Vietnam stock exchange in the period 2006-2020. Using typical regression methods such as pooled OLS, FEM, REM and assessing the defects of the research model, the FGLS method is selected. At the same time, due to the existence of endogenous phenomena and the nature of interdependence among enterprises in Vietnam, research using the instrumental variables two-step generalized method of moments (IV-GMM) in order to correct for cross-sectional dependence, autocorrelation, endogeneity, and heteroskedasticity in the analysis. Research results suggest that board size, female board members, meeting frequency, and board members' education have a positive influence on financial performance. Moreover, the independence of the Board of Directors increases, the business efficiency decreases. The research also found a positive relationship of tangible fixed assets, and a negative relationship between capital structure choice, firm size and corporate financial performance.

Simulations based on Supernova (SN) observations predict several galactic SN explosions (SNe) occur every century. Unlike SNes within the Interstellar Medium (ISM) where ambient gas generally absorbs blast waves within a million years, SNes occurring in a rarified environment outside of the (ISM) generate blast waves which remain in a high velocity free expansion phase for more extended periods. The SN blast wave forms an expanding spherical shell and when multiple blast waves intersect, the overlapping region naturally takes the form of a ring, an arc, or an Einstein Cross structure. The analysis shows the high velocity plasma establishes a medium with permeability which drives the index of refraction greater than 1. As a result, when a shock discontinuity forms in the overlapping region, light is reflected from the host galaxy which exposes the intersecting blast wave regions. The expanding shells are shown to induce an achromatic redshift to the reflected light consistent with those measured for gravitational lenses. Further, it is shown that a Hubble equation for a blast wave around the Milky Way Galaxy can be parameterized to align with measured redshifts of extragalactic light fields over a wide range of distances.

In recent years, metabolomics has been used as a powerful tool to better understand the physiology of neurodegenerative diseases and identify potential biomarkers for progression. We used targeted and untargeted aqueous, and lipidomic profiles of the metabolome from human cerebrospinal fluid to build multivariate predictive models distinguishing patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), and healthy age-matched controls. We emphasize several statistical challenges associated with metabolomic studies where the number of measured metabolites far exceeds sample size. We found strong separation in the metabolome between PD and controls, as well as between PD and AD, with weaker separation between AD and controls. Consistent with existing literature, we found alanine, kynurenine, tryptophan, and serine to be associated with PD classification against controls, while alanine, creatine, and long chain ceramides were associated with AD classification against controls. We conducted a univariate pathway analysis of untargeted and targeted metabolite profiles and find that vitamin E and urea cycle metabolism pathways are associated with PD, while the aspartate/asparagine and c21-steroid hormone biosynthesis pathways are associated with AD. We also found that the amount of metabolite missingness varied by phenotype, highlighting the importance of examining missing data in future metabolomic studies.

This study aimed to enhance a micro hydroelectric generator system driven by free-flow vortex and to compare efficiency of Propeller and Crossflow turbines. Series of turbines in each type were designed and tested at water-flowrate of 0.02 m3/s. The turbine housing has 1 meter in diameter and 0.5-meter height with 2 meters outlet drain at the bottom. The best efficiency extracted from Crossflow turbines with the same height (0.3 meter) but different in diameter (0.4, 0.5, 0.6, and 0.7 meter) and numbers of blade (12, 18, 24, 30, and 23) was from an 18 blades turbine at 23.01% of efficiency. The best efficiency extracted from Propeller turbines with 5 blades was from a 0.4-meter-high turbine with a diameter of 0.7 meter at 13.92% of efficiency. There were 12 Propeller turbines designed in this study. They were different in height (0.2, 0.3, and 0.4 meter) and, in each height, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, and 0.7 of diameter was applied. The result revealed that Cross Flow turbine had more efficiency to the system than Propeller turbine (9.09%) at the water-flowrate of 0.02 m3/s

This study aimed to examine trust in information provided by public authorities and financial measures put in place to address the impact of COVID-19. Using a cross-national approach among four Western countries; the United States of America, Norway, Australia, and the United Kingdom provides an analysis of responses related to trust and how they were associated with age group, gender, education level, employment status, size of place of residence, infection sta-tus, and social media use. When controlling for all included variables in logistic regression analyses, the likelihood of having trust in the public authorities’ information was higher for women, those with higher levels of education, and those living in urban areas. Being infected with the coronavirus, and spending more time daily on social media was associated with lower likelihood reporting trust in information. Although policies implemented to respond to eco-nomic concerns varied cross-nationally, higher age, identifying as female, being employed, liv-ing in a city, and lower levels of social media usage were associated with higher likelihood of trusting in the financial measures put in place to counteract the economic effects of COVID-19.

Microglia are resident immune cells of the central nervous system such as brain-specific macrophages and also known to regulate the innate immune functions of astrocytes through secretory molecules. This conversation plays an important role in brain functions and homeostasis as well as in neuropathologic disease. In this study, we aimed to elucidate whether astrocytes and microglia can cross-talk to induce microglial polarization and proliferation, which can be further regulated under the brain stroke-mimic microenvironment. Microglia in mixed glial culture increased their survival and proliferation and altered to the M2 microglia, whose role was provided by CD11b-GFAP+ astrocytes by showing approximately tenfold increase in microglia cell proliferation after the astrocyte reconstitution. Furthermore, GM-CSF stimulated microglial proliferation approximately tenfold and induced to CCR7+ M1 microglia, whose phenotype could be suppressed by anti-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-4, IL-10, and Substance-P. Also, astrocyte in the microglia co-culture revealed A2 phenotype, which could be activated to A1 astrocyte by TNFα and IFNγ under the stroke-mimic condition. Altogether, astrocyte in the mixed glial culture stimulated the microglia proliferation and M2 polarization possibly through its acquisition of A2 phenotype, both of which could be converted to M1 microglia and A1 astrocytes under the inflammatory stroke-mimic environment. This study demonstrated that microglia and astrocyte can be polarized to M2 microglia and A2 astrocytes respectively through the cross-talk in vitro and provided a system to explore how microglia and astrocyte may behave in the inflammatory disease milieu after in vivo transplantation.

With the introduction of HTTP/3, whose transport is no longer the traditional TCP protocol but the novel QUIC protocol, research for solutions to the unfairness of Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (HAS) has become more challenging. That is, because of different transport layers, the HTTP/3 may not be available for some networks and the clients have to use HTTP/2 for their HAS applications instead. Therefore, the scenario that HAS over HTTP/3 (HAS/3) compete against HTTP/2 (HAS/2) must be considered seriously. However, there have been a shortage of investigations on the performance and the origin of the unfairness in such a cross-protocol scenario in order to produce proper solutions. Therefore, this paper provides a performance evaluation and root-cause analysis of the cross-protocol unfairness between HAS/3 and HAS/2. It is concluded that, due to differences in the congestion control mechanisms of QUIC and TCP, HAS/3 clients obtain larger congestion windows, thus requesting higher video bitrates than HAS/2. As the problem lies in the transport layer, existing client-side ABR-based solutions for the unfairness from the application layer may perform suboptimally for the cross-protocol case.

COVID-19 has been a global healthcare concern impacting multiple aspects of individual and community wellness. As one moves forward with different methods to reduce the infection and mortality rates, it is critical to continue to study the impact that national and local ‘social distancing’ policies have on the daily lives of individuals. The aim of this study was to examine loneliness in relation to risk assessment, measures taken against risks, concerns, and social media use, while adjusting for sociodemographic variables. The cross-sectional study collected data from 3469 individuals from USA, UK, Norway, and Australia. Loneliness was measured with the de Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale. Multiple linear regression was used in the analysis of associations between variables. The results showed that concerns about finances were more strongly associated with social loneliness, while concerns about the future was more strongly associated with emotional loneliness. Longer daily time spent on social media was associated with higher emotional loneliness. In conclusion, pandemic-related concerns seem to affect their perceptions of loneliness. While social media can be used productively to maintain relationships, and thereby prevent loneliness, excessive use may be counterproductive.

The aim of the present cross-sectional study was to analyze the differential impact of the first COVID-19 lockdown (3rd April 2020) on stress, health practices, and self-care activities across different Hispanic countries, age range and gender groups. 1082 participants from Spain, Chile, Colombia, and Ecuador took part in this study. Irrespective of the country, and controlling for income level, young people, especially females, suffered a greater level of stress, perceived the situation as more severe, showed less adherence to health guidelines and reported lower levels of health consciousness, in comparison to their male peers and older groups. However, in the case of self-care, it seems that older and female groups are generally more involved in self-care activities and adopt more healthy daily routines. These results are mostly similar between Colombia, Ecuador, and Spain. However, Chile showed some different tendencies, as males reported higher levels of healthy daily routines and better adherence to health guidelines compared to females and people over the age of 60. Differences between countries, genders and age ranges should be considered in order to improve health recommendations and adherence to guidelines. It would also be crucial to identify vulnerable groups to promote the adoption of health behaviors that may help in the development of effective public health strategies. Future studies should be addressed to explore the possible causations of such differences in more cultural-distant samples and at later stages of the current outbreak.

The prevalence of back pain (BP) among children and adolescents has increased over recent years. Some authors advocate promoting back-health education in the school setting. It is therefore important to adopt a uniform suite of assessment instruments to measure the various constructs. The present study aimed to perform a cultural adaptation of a validated measurement instrument (BackPEI), beginning with a translation and cultural adaptation phase, followed by a second phase to test reliability using a test-retest design. The translation and cross-cultural adaptation were performed based on the guidelines. Reliability was tested by applying the questionnaire to 224 secondary school students, at two different times with a 7-day interval between the tests. In general, the Spanish version presented adequate agreement for questions 1–20, with only question 9 achieving a low Kappa range of .312 [-.152- .189]. The question about pain intensity did not show differences between the averages for the test (4.72 ± 2.33) and re-test (4.58 ± 2.37) (p = .333), and the responses for these two tests were highly correlated (ICC= .951 [.928- .966]; p= .0001). Psychometric testing indicated that the Spanish version of the BackPEI is well-adapted and reliable, based on the test-retest design, providing similar results to the original Brazilian version.

An informative probe of myosin crossbridge behaviour in active muscle is a mechanical transient experiment where, for example, a fully active muscle initially held at constant length is suddenly shortened to a new fixed length giving a force transient, or has its load suddenly reduced giving a length transient. We describe the simplest crossbridge mechanical cycle we could find to model these transients. We show using the statistical mechanics of 50,000 crossbridges that a simple cycle with two actin-attached cross-bridge states, one producing no force and the other producing force, will explain much of what has been observed experimentally and we discuss the implications of this modelling for our understanding of how muscle works. We show that this same simple model will explain reasonably well the isotonic mechanical and X-ray transients under different loads observed by Reconditi et al (2004, Nature 428, 578) and that there is no need to invoke different crossbridge step sizes under these different conditions; a step size of 100 Å works well for all loads. We do not claim that this model provides a total mechanical explanation of how muscle works. But we do suggest that only if there are other observations that cannot be explained by this simple model should something more complicated be considered.

Modulation of the amplitude of high-frequency cortical field activity locked to changes in phase of a slower brain rhythm is known as phase-amplitude coupling (PAC). The study of this phenomenon has been gaining traction in neuroscience because of several reports on its appearance in normal and pathological brain processes in humans as well as across different mammalian species. This has led to the suggestion that PAC may be an intrinsic brain process that facilitates brain inter-area communication across different spatiotemporal scales. Several methods have been proposed to measure the PAC process, but few of these enable detailed study of its time course. It appears that no studies have reported details of PAC dynamics including its possible directional delay characteristics. Here, we study and characterize the use of a novel information theoretic measure that may address this limitation: local transfer entropy. We use both simulated and actual intracranial electroencephalographic data, and in both cases we observe initial indications that local transfer entropy can be used to detect the onset and offset of modulation process periods revealed by mutual information phase-amplitude coupling (MIPAC). We review our results in the context of current theories about PAC in brain electrical activity, and discuss technical issues that must be addressed to see local transfer entropy more widely applied to PAC analysis.

Various studies indicate that vaccination, especially with pneumococcal vaccines, protects against symptomatic cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection and death. This paper explores the possibility that pneumococcal vaccines in particular, but perhaps other vaccines as well, contain antigens that might be cross-reactive with SARS-CoV-2 antigens. Comparison of the glycosylation structures of SARS-CoV-2 with the polysaccharide structures of pneumococcal vaccines yielded no obvious similarities. However, while pneumococcal vaccines are primarily composed of capsular polysaccharides, some are conjugated to CRM197, a modified diphtheria toxin, and all contain about three percent protein contaminants, including the pneumococcal surface proteins PsaA, PspA and probably PspC. All of these proteins have very high degrees of similarity, using very stringent criteria, with several SARS-CoV-2 proteins including the spike protein, membrane protein and replicase 1a. CRM197 is also present in Hib and meningitis vaccines. Equivalent similarities were found at lower rates, or were completely absent, among the proteins in diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, measles, mumps, rubella, and poliovirus vaccines. Notably, PspA and PspC are highly antigenic and new pneumococcal vaccines based on them are currently in human clinical trials so that their effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2 disease is easily testable.

Background: This study aimed to assess the dementia literacy (DL) level of community-dwelling adults in the four cities (Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Macau and Zhuhai) of the Greater Bay Area of China and to determine the preferred mass media for receiving dementia information. Methods: A multi-city cross-sectional study with 788 community-dwelling adults completed the survey. Dementia literacy was indirectly measured by two validated scales, 30-item Alzhiemer’s Disease Knowledge Scale (ADKS) and 20-item Dementia Attitudes Scale (DAS). When the ADKS total score was <15 and DAS total score was <70, it was considered as ‘inadequate dementia literacy’. Participants were also asked to indicate whether they would like to receive dementia information via digital media or traditional media. Chi-square tests and logistic regressions were undertaken. Results: About one-third of the participants had inadequate dementia literacy. Those with young age or secondary education preferred to get dementia information from social media. But people living in public housing would like to get information from government or hospital websites. Middle-aged participants inclined to learn dementia from television or radio. Conclusion: It is worthy to conduct territory-wide public education in dementia and develop strategies according to their preferences in the types of mass media.

The future of the Colorado River water supply (WS) affects millions of people and the U.S. economy. A recent study suggested a cross-basin correlation between the Colorado River and its neighboring Great Salt Lake (GSL). Following that study, the feasibility of using the previously developed multi-year prediction of the GSL water level to forecast the Colorado River WS was tested. Time-series models were developed to predict the changes in WS out to 10 years. Regressive methods and the GSL water level data were used for the depiction of decadal variability of the Colorado River WS. Various time-series models suggest a decline in the 10-year-averaged WS since 2013 before starting to increase around 2020. Comparison between this WS prediction and the WS projection published in a 2012 government report (derived from climate models) reveals a widened imbalance between supply and demand by 2020. Further research to update similar multi-year prediction of the Colorado River WS is needed. Such information could aid in management decision making in the face of future water shortages.

used traditional microbial starters revealed that effective fermentation requires three microbial strains with complementary metabolic activities: filamentous fungi (Rhizopus oryzae), yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), and lactic acid bacteria (Lactobacillus plantarum). Relative to natural communities, modulation of the ratio of these three microorganisms led to significant differences not only in terms of ethanol and organic acid production, but also with the profile of volatile compounds. However, inoculation of an equal ratio of spores/cells of the three aforementioned microbial strains led to a flavor profile and ethanol yield similar to that obtained with natural communities. Compartmentalization of metabolic tasks through the use of a biofilm cultivation device allowed further improvement of the entire fermentation process, notably by increasing the amount of key components of the aroma profile of the fermented beverage (i.e., mainly phenylethyl alcohol, isobutyl alcohol, isoamyl alcohol, and 2-methyl-butanol) and reducing the amount of off-flavor compound. This study represents an initial step toward understanding interkingdom microbial interactions with a strong potential for application in the food biotechnology.

In this paper, the far field and near field optical responses of a gold nanoparticle are studied and simulated numerically. The electromagnetic field was excited by an electric dipole located near one end of the nanorod, which is used to model the emission of a quantum dot. Another excitation method was also simulated in which an incident plane wave is used. The excitation of dark plasmon modes of the gold nanorod is presented. The Poynting equation was solved numerically to study the influence of the gold nanorod on the dipole radiative power. In addition, the extinction cross section of the gold nanoparticle illuminated by the incident plane wave was calculated to estimate the amount of the scattered and absorbed light.

Given the cross-scale interactions of agricultural ecosystems, it is important to collect ecosystem service data at the multiple spatial scales they operate at. Mapping of ecosystem services helps to assess their spatial and temporal distribution and is a popular communication tool of their availability and value. For example, maps can be used to quantify distance between areas of available ecosystem services and their beneficiaries and how services fluctuate with changes in land use patterns over time, allowing identification of synergies and trade-offs. However, a lack of local context and too large a resolution can reduce the utility of these maps, whilst masking heterogeneities in access due to equity dynamics. This review identifies and summarizes eight main methods of ESS mapping found in the literature—remote sensing, biophysical modelling, agent based modelling, economic valuation, expert opinion, user preference, participatory mapping, and photo-elicitation. We consider what spatial scales these methods are utilized at and the transferability of data created by each method. The analysis concludes with a methodological framework for mapping ecosystem services, intended to help researchers identify appropriate methods for a multi-scale research design. The framework is exemplified with an overview of a research project in Ethiopia.

This paper employs the two-step procedure developed by Cheung and Ng (1996) to analyze the causality-in-mean and causality-in-variance between the housing and stock markets of the UK. The empirical findings make two key contributions. First, although previous studies have indicated a one-way causal relation from the housing market to the stock market in the UK, this paper discovered a two-way causal relation between them. Second, a causality-in-variance as well as a causality-in-mean was detected from the housing market to the stock market.

The emission of [O I] lines in the coma of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko during the Rosetta mission have been explained by electron impact dissociation of water rather than the process of photodissociation. This is the direct evidence for the role of electron induced processing has been seen on such a body. Analysis of other emission features is handicapped by a lack of detailed knowledge of electron impact cross sections which highlights the need for a broad range of electron scattering data from the molecular systems detected on the comet. In this paper we present an overview of the needs for electron scattering data relevant for the understanding of observations in coma, the tenuous atmosphere and on the surface of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko during the Rosetta mission. The relevant observations for elucidating the role of electrons come from optical spectra, particle analysis using the ion and electron sensors and mass spectrometry measurements. To model these processes electron impact data should be collated and reviewed in an electron scattering database and an example is given in the BEAMD, which is a part of a larger consortium of Virtual Atomic and Molecular Data Centre – VAMDC.

This study aims to quantify carotenoids and tocopherols in human milk from healthy Chinese women, and to explore their associations with region, lactation stage, and maternal socio-economic and obstetric factors. Human milk was obtained from 509 healthy mothers and the compounds of carotenoids and tocopherols were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography after mild saponification and solvent extraction. Socio-economic and obstetric characteristics of the mothers and their dietary intakes through a single 24-hour dietary recall were evaluated. The median content of each component [μg/100mL, median (interquartile range)] in colostrum and mature milk was, respectively, β-carotene 8.0 (4.7-15.2) and 1.8 (1.4-2.7), β-cryptoxanthin 6.2 (2.4-12.9) and 1.8 (1.1-3.4), lutein 5.7 (2.9-10.2) and 3.4 (1.5-6.0), lycopene 6.3 (4.0-9.9) and 1.4 (1.1-2.0), zeaxanthin 1.0 (0.6-1.5) and 1.0 (0.6-1.4), α-tocopherol 645 (388-1176) and 211 (131-321), γ-tocopherol 68 (48-121) and 77 (45-120). The levels of all those vitamins presented regional differences, and decreased as lactation stage increased except for zeaxanthin and γ-tocopherol. Associations of carotenoid contents with maternal education, delivery mode, and present body mass index were found in multivariate analyses. These results suggest that some region, lactation stage, obstetric and socio-economic factors are associated with human milk concentrations of carotenoids and tocopherols in healthy Chinese mothers.

A simple design of an ultrathin six-band polarization-insensitive terahertz perfect metamaterial absorber (PMMA) composed of a metal cross-cave-patch resonator (CCPR) placed over a ground plane was proposed and investigated numerically. The numerical simulation results demonstrate that the average absorption peaks are up to 95% at six resonance frequencies with high quality-factors (>65). In addition, the absorption properties can be kept stability for both normal incident transverse magnetic (TM) and transverse electric (TE) waves. The physical mechanism behind the observed high level absorption is illustrated by the electric and power loss density distributions. The different absorption mainly originates from the higher order multipolar and multipolar plasmon resonance of the structure, which are sharp different to the most previous studies of the PMMAs. Furthermore, the resonance absorption of the PMMA can be tunable by varying the geometric parameters of the unit cell.

A simple design of an ultrathin six-band polarization-insensitive terahertz perfect metamaterial absorber (PMMA) composed of a metal cross-cave-patch resonator (CCPR) placed over a ground plane was proposed and investigated numerically. The numerical simulation results demonstrate that the average absorption peaks are up to 95% at six resonance frequencies with high quality-factors (>65). In addition, the absorption properties can be kept stability for both normal incident transverse magnetic (TM) and transverse electric (TE) waves. The physical mechanism behind the observed high level absorption is illustrated by the electric and power loss density distributions. The different absorption mainly originates from the higher order multipolar and multipolar plasmon resonance of the structure, which are sharp different to the most previous studies of the PMMAs. Furthermore, the resonance absorption of the PMMA can be tunable by varying the geometric parameters of the unit cell.

The limited information available on the structure of complexes involving transcription factors and cognate DNA response elements represents a major obstacle in the quest to understand their mechanism of action at the molecular level. We implemented a concerted structural proteomics approach, which combined hydrogen-deuterium exchange (HDX), quantitative protein-protein and protein-nucleic acid cross-linking (XL), and homology analysis, to model the structure of the complex between the full-length DNA binding domain (DBD) of FOXO4 and its DNA binding element (DBE). The results confirmed that FOXO4-DBD assumes the characteristic forkhead topology shared by these types of transcription factors, but its binding mode differs significantly from those of other members of the family. The results showed that the binding interaction stabilized regions that were rather flexible and disordered in the unbound form. Surprisingly, the conformational effects were not limited only to the interface between bound components but extended also to distal regions that may be essential to recruiting additional factors to the transcription machinery. In addition to providing valuable new insights into the binding mechanism, this project provided an excellent evaluation of the merits of structural proteomics approaches in the investigation of systems that arematerial not directly amenable to traditional high-resolution techniques.

We report recent enhancements of the online atomic database at the Ohio State University, NORAD-Atomic-Data, that provides various parameters for radiative and collisional atomic processes dominant in astrophysical plasma. NORAD stands for Nahar Osu RADiative. The database belongs to the data sources, especially for the latest works, of the international collaborations of the Opacity Project and the Iron Project. The contents of the database are calculated values for energies, oscillator strengths, radiative decay rates, lifetimes, cross sections for photoionization, electron-ion recombination cross sections and recombination rate coefficients. We have recently expanded NORAD-Atomic-Data with several enhancements over those reported earlier. They are as follows. i) We continue to add energy levels, transition parameters, cross sections for atoms and ions with their publications. ii) Recently added radiative atomic data contains significant amount of transition data for photo-absorption spectral features corresponding to x-ray resonance fluorescence effect, prominent wavelength regions of bio-signature elements, such as phosphorus ions, and emission bumps of heavy elements, such as of lanthanides, that may be created in a kilonova event. We are including iii) collisional data for electron-impact-excitation, iv) experimental data for energies and oscillator strengths for line formation, v) experimental cross sections for photoionization that can be applied for benchmarking and other applications, and vi) introduction of a web-based interactive feature to calculate spectral line ratios at various plasma temperature and density diagnostics, starting with our recently published data for P II. We presented summary description of theoretical backgrounds for the computed data in the earlier paper. With introduction of experimental results, we present summary description of measurement of high resolution photoionization cross sections at Advanced Light Source of LBNL synchrotron set-up and briefly discuss other set-ups. These additions should make NORAD-Atomic-Data more versatile for various applications. For brevity, we provide information on the extensions and avoid repetition of data description of the original paper.

In response to escalating global demand for poultry, the industry grapples with an array of intricate challenges, from enhancing productivity to improving animal welfare and attenuating environmental impacts. This comprehensive review explores the transformative potential of digital phenotyping, an emergent technological innovation at the cusp of dramatically reshaping broiler production. The central aim of this study is to critically examine digital phenotyping as a pivotal solution to these multidimensional industry conundrums. Our investigation spotlights the profound implications of 'digital twins' in the burgeoning field of broiler genomics, where the production of exact digital counterparts of physical entities accelerates genomics research and its practical applications. Further, this review probes into the ongoing advancements in the research and development of a context-sensitive, multimodal digital phenotyping platform, custom-built to monitor broiler health. I critically evaluate this platform's potential in revolutionizing health monitoring, fortifying the resilience of broiler production, and fostering a harmonious balance between productivity and sustainability. Subsequently, the paper provides a rigorous assessment of the unique challenges that may surface during the integration of digital phenotyping within the industry. These span from technical and economic impediments to ethical deliberations, thus offering a comprehensive perspective. The paper concludes by highlighting the game-changing potential of digital phenotyping in the broiler industry and identifying potential future directions for the field, underlining the significance of continued research and development in unlocking digital phenotyping's full potential. In doing so, it charts a course towards a more robust, sustainable, and productive broiler industry. The insights garnered from this study hold substantial value for a broad spectrum of stakeholders in the broiler industry, setting the stage for an imminent technological evolution in poultry production.

The aim of this study is to propose and validate the state space mode decomposition technique for precise mode separation of non-classical damping systems and closely distributed modal systems. To assess the reliability and applicability of this technique, a 40-story building with a tuned mass damper is investigated, and acceleration responses measured by the building's health monitoring system are used for the verification of the technique. The mode separation results reveal that the separated modal power spectrum becomes distorted at neighboring natural frequency ranges when the performance index only considers the concentration of power spectral energy at the target natural frequency. However, by introducing an augmented performance index that includes a constraint condition to account for distortion, more accurate mode decomposition can be achieved.

Vector published map, as a result of pre-press printing of paper map digital publishing, is a page file in line with PostScript standards. With large amount of data and a large number of map page graphics objects, the browsing speed is slow and the hardware performance is very high, which seriously affects the breadth and depth of the application of vector published map. In response to this problem, this paper proposes a visualization method of large-size vector published map. This method adopts the idea of tiling. The vector published map is physically cropped into several PDF tiles to form a map logically. Data encoding and organization are based on the GeoSOT earth division grid to realize the rapid loading, scaling, display of map data and the correlation retrieval of map product "map and spatial data integration". The experiment shows that the response time of map data loading and browsing is much less than that of professional software, and the method is insensitive to data volume and has low requirement on hardware performance. This method can not only make up the disadvantages of image tiles in the existing network map service, but also make the vector published map can be used in embedded devices, mobile terminals, network modes and other cross-media applications.

The comprehensive analysis of cross-country skiing races is a pivotal step in establishing effective training objectives and tactical strategies. This study aimed to establish a method for the classifi-cation of sub-techniques and analyzing skiing characteristics during cross-country skiing skating style timed races on snow using high-precision kinematic GNSS devices. The study involved at-taching GNSS devices to the heads of two athletes during skating style timed races on cross-country ski courses. These devices provided precise positional data and recorded vertical and hor-izontal head movements and ground over velocity (VOG). Sub-techniques were classified by de-fining waveform patterns for G2, G3, G4, and G6 based on these data. The validity of classifica-tion was verified by comparing GNSS data with video analysis, a process that yielded classifica-tion accuracies ranging from 94.0% to 99.3% for G2, G3, G4, and G6. Notably, G4 emerged as the fastest technique, with sub-technique selection varying among skiers and being influenced by skiing velocity and course inclination. The study's findings have practical implications for ath-letes and coaches, as they demonstrate that high-precision kinematic GNSS devices can accurate-ly classify sub-techniques and detect skiing characteristics during skate-style cross-country skiing races, thereby providing valuable insights for training and strategy development.

Background: Depressive symptoms are a serious public health problem that are associated with BADL and IADL disabilities in Chinese adults.Objective: The limitation of activities of daily living (ADL) affects the mental health of older adults. We distinguished activities of daily living into basic activities of daily living (BADL) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) to explore the relationship between these two limitations and depressive symptoms among older Chinese adults using nationally representative cross-sectional data. In addition, this study explored the relationships between BADL, IADL and depression risk in elderly people at the individual and provincial levels and in rural and urban subgroups.Methods: The China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study(CHARLS) survey used a multistage probability‒proportional‒to-size (PPS) sampling technique. Province-level socioeconomic characteristics were merged with microdata for respondents over 60 years of age from the 2020 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS 2020) Wave 5 (n=10,036) by the author. The respondents were asked whether their BADL and IADL were limited . The risk of depression was assessed using the 10-item Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale(CES-D 10). The chi-squared test was used to explore whether having a disability that limits BADL and IADL were associated with mental health status. A binary logistic regression model was used to evaluate this association further after controlling for confounding factors.Results: Overall, 27.5% (2759/10036) and 25.7% (2776/10036) of the participants over 60 years of age were limited in their BADL and IADL, respectively. Regression analyses revealed that older adults whose BADL were not limited (OR=1.942, 95% CI: 1.638–2.303, P < .001) and whose IADL were not limited (OR=1.775, 95% CI: 1.485–2.122, P < .001) had a lower risk of depression than older adults whose BADL and IADL were limited. In addition, older adults who were female (P <.001), were 60-69 years (P < .005), had a partner (P <0.001), were literate (P <.001), lived in a rural area (P <.001), had a retirement pension (P <.001), had 3 or more children (P < .001), did not have any chronic diseases (P < .001), had a fair SRH score (P < .001), drank alcohol (P < .001), exercised (P < .005), did not participate in social activities (P < .001), or had an above average per capita household consumption (P < .001) lived in provinces with the first quartile of GDP per capita (P < .001) and lived in provinces with the second quartile of the number of beds in medical institutions per 10,000 persons (P < .001) were more likely to experience depressive symptoms, while smoking had no effect. In a binary logistic regression, older adults who were single (OR=0.669, 95% CI=0.551, 0.812), illiterate (OR=0.646, 95% CI=0.504, 0.828), living in rural areas (OR=1.485, 95% CI=1.270, 1.735), without retirement pensions (OR=0.671, 95% CI=0.582, 0.819) and with very bad SRH scores (OR=0.411, 95% CI=0.311, 0.544) had a greater risk of depressive symptoms. In the binary logistic regression analysis of the urban and rural subgroups separately, the results indicated that old people whose BADL or IADL were not limited were associated with a risk of depression, especially rural (P < .001) and urban (P < .001) participants.Conclusions: The present study provides evidence of an association between BADL, IADL and depression in older Chinese adults. This study revealed that individuals with limited BADL and limited IADL were predominantly depressed older adults. Binary logistic regression models suggested that disabilities limiting BADL and IADL were more likely to be associated with depressive symptoms in rural Chinese older adults. Older adults should be encouraged to participate in moderate physical and social activities to prevent physical dysfunction. The government and social work organisations should pay attention to the mental health of older adults in rural areas.

Knowing the number of cases of an epidemic is the first function of epidemiological surveillance. An important underreporting of cases was observed in many places during the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic. To estimate this underreporting in the COVID-19 outbreak of Borriana (Valencia Community, Spain), during “Falles” mass gathering events in March 2020, a cross-sectional study was performed in June 2020 querying public health register. Logistic regression models were used. From a total of 468 symptomatic COVID-19 cases diagnosed in the outbreak by anti-SARS-CoV-2 serology, 36 cases were reported (7.7%), thus an underreporting of 92.3% (95% Confidence Interval [CI] 89.5%-94.6%), 13 unreported cases for every reported case. Only positive SARS-CoV-2 polymerase chain reaction cases were predominantly reported due to a limited testing capacity and following a national protocol. Significant factors associated with underreporting were no medical assistance for COVID-19 disease, adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 10.83 (95% CI 2.49-47.11), no chronic illness, aOR=2.81 (95% CI 1.28-6.17), middle and lower social classes, aOR=3.12 (95% CI 1.42-6.85), younger age, aOR=0.97 (95% CI 0.94-0.99), shorter duration of illness, aOR=0.98 (95% CI 0.97-0.99). To improve surveillance, studies of representative population samples are necessary to estimate the magnitude of future epidemics, and novel approaches are recommended.

The early Church had an incredible encounter with the resurrected Christ. Being living witnesses, Christ’s followers spread the Gospel in the world through the power of the Holy Spirit. This piece argued that the Bible contains methodologies used by the Apostles who laid down their lives for the sake of the message of the Cross. Furthermore, it has been contested in this study that the emphasis today has shifted to personal theological agendas of reading the Bible for intellectual preferences. As a result of Christianity’s current emphasis on dogmatic beliefs, various unbiblical approaches to reading the Bible have emerged that ignore the ethical reading of the Bible. This study has reinvestigated the reasons to apply this approach in our modern era to live the Bible rather than any other approach. And one among them is the Enlightenment era which distorted the relationship between ethics and theology (Perry 46). Apart from the above, this study also revealed that many Bible believers have twisted biblical truths because they focus on their convictions. As a result, many strategies fail to provide sound biblical teachings to understand any particular event in the light of the original message of the Bible to reflect upon our situation today. Therefore, in light of the above, on the one hand, the approach of the early Church Fathers is used to reimagine contemporary challenges from this perspective. On the other hand, even though thousands of books have been written on various methodologies to study the Bible, the core concern to critique these current approaches is not personal or denominational, religion-based but rather 'invitational and servational' to live with these biblical beliefs to reorient an ethical approach towards cross-cultural reading in our local and global contexts addressing the problems (injustice and marginalization) and responding to the contemporary challenges.