The thermal conductivity of the products of the interaction of molten core with concrete was derived using number theory. A formula has been found that describes the thermal conductivity of ZrO₂, ZrSiO₄, (U,Zr)SiO₄ and UO₂ over a wide temperature range. Formula is expressed in terms of the atomic numbers of elements, their valencies, the crystal structure of substances, and the thermal conductivities of individual chemical elements of the corium.

Using number theory, a formula is obtained that describes the thermal conductivities of ZrC, UC, UN, ThN, ZrN and Th_xU_1-xN at x = 0.2 and 0.5 with temperature change. This formula contains the atomic numbers of the elements, the thermal conductivities of the individual elements of the substance, and the structural parameter. There is no direct dependence on temperature in the formula, since it is hidden in the thermal conductivities of each element and in the structure parameter. In some temperature ranges, the structural parameter is constant; therefore, the thermal conductivity of some carbides and nitrides is expressed through summing the thermal conductivities of individual elements.

Background: Vertical transmission of HIV infection can occur during pregnancy, during childbirth or through breastfeeding. The recommendations issued by the various international guidelines (WHO 2010, EACS 2017, DHHS 2017) on the safety of breastfeeding of HIV-infected women in effective antiretroviral treatment do not provide univocal indications referring to individual countries the choice to advise or advise against such procedure. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted in a small cohort of HIV-infected pregnant women who, despite the information received, decided to breastfeed their children. The observation was carried out in the period between March 2017 and June 2021. In all newborns, prophylaxis therapy was initiated at birth, according to the treatment guidelines, the scheme adopted involved the administration of zidovudine (AZT) orally for 4 weeks, started immediately after the childbirth. Breastfeeding time was, on average, 5 months. Results: No contagion was diagnosed. All infants were tested for HIV-RNA at birth, 1, 3, and 6 months after birth, and 1, 3 and 3 months after stopping breastfeeding. Conclusions: The data obtained represent, in our opinion, a solicitation to discuss and re-evaluate scientific evidence that starting from "Undetectable Equals Untransmittable" (U = U) can open a scientific and cultural review of breastfeeding.

The effects of the dielectric constant of the powder phase on lead zirconate titanate (PZT)/PZT sol-gel composite films were investigated to tailor their electrical properties. Three types of PZT powders were used to fabricate three different PZT/PZT sol-gel composite films. The PZT powders had the same electromechanical coupling coefficient but different relative dielectric constants. The PZT/PZT films were fabricated on a 3 mm-thick titanium substrate using an automatic spray coating system, and their properties were investigated. The relative dielectric constants of the PZT/PZT films were successfully controlled by tailoring the properties of the PZT powder phase. However, the piezoelectric constants showed a tendency different to those of the raw powders, because of the poor poling degree. This was overcome by conducting poling at a high temperature.

The Huayangchuan uranium deposit, located in the west of the Xiaoqinling belt on the southern margin of the North China Craton, is a polymetallic deposit dominated by U, Nb, Pb, and rare earth elements. The Huayangchuan uranium deposit, discovered in the 1950s, has long been known as a carbonatite-type uranium deposit. Recently, new geological work has found uranium mineralisation in many granitic pegmatite veins in the Huayangchuan deposit and adjacent areas. Here, we report a systematic investigation of the petrography, whole-rock geochemistry, zircon U-Pb ages, and in situ Lu-Hf isotopic characteristics of newly discovered U-rich granitic pegmatite veins in the west of Huayangchuan deposit. The petrological results showed that the lithology of the samples is equivalent to that of granite. The U-Pb ages of zircon were 1826.3 ± 7.9 and 1829 ± 11 Ma. Microscopically, the symbiotic characteristics of zircon, betafite, and uraninite exist in the intergranular fissures of K-feldspar and quartz, reflecting metallogenic phenomena in the rock formation process. Almost all whole-rock samples were rich in SiO2 (64.37–70.69 wt.%), total alkalis (K2O+Na2O = 8.50–10.30 wt.%), and Al2O3 (12.20–14.41 wt.%), but poor in Ti2O (0.23–0.73 wt.%), MgO (0.38–0.90 wt.%), P2O5 (0.14–0.83 wt.%), MnO (0.04–0.57 wt.%). Additionally, they showed enrichment of LILEs (such as Rb, Ba, Th, U, and K), depletion of HFSEs (such as Ta, Nb, P, Ti, and Hf), no alkaline dark minerals, and the characteristics are typical of intraplate A1-type granite. The A1-type granite displayed low zircon εHf(t) values (-19.42– -15.02) with zircon two-stage Hf model aged 3.10–2.76 Ga, indicating that the U-rich granitic pegmatite was derived predominantly from partial melting of the ancient continental crust (such as the early Taihua group formed in Archean-Neoarchean). Combined with the above results and regional geological data, the U-rich granitic pegmatite discovered in the Huayangchuan deposit was related to granite magma activity that formed in a post-collisional regime after the Luliang movement in the late Palaeoproterozoic. This study suggests that future uranium prospecting work in this area should focus on late Palaeoproterozoic U-rich granitic pegmatites.

Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3-0.06BaTiO3 (BNT-BT) thin films were prepared by both chemical solution (CSD) and pulsed laser deposition (PLD). The microstructure, dielectric, and ferroelectric properties were investigated. High stability of the dielectric permittivity (∆ɛ/ɛ(150 °C) ≤ ± 15%) over a wide temperature range from room temperature to 300 °C was obtained. Distinctly, the CSD film showed high TCC stability with variation of ± 5% up to 250°C. Furthermore, the CSD film showed an unsaturated ferroelectric hysteresis loop characteristic of the ergodic relaxor phase, however the PLD one exhibited almost saturated loop signature of the coexistence of both ergodic and non-ergodic states. The energy storage properties of the prepared films were determined using the P–E loops obtained at different temperatures. The results showed that these films exhibit stable and improved energy storage density comparable to the ceramic capacitors. Moreover, the CSD film exhibited more rigidity and better energy storage density that exceeds 1.3 J/cm3 under low applied field of 317 KV/cm as well as interesting efficiency in a large temperature range. The obtained results are very promising for energy storage capacitors operating at high temperatures.

The control of oxidative stress with natural active substances could limit the development of numerous pathologies. Our objective was to study the antiradical effects of resveratrol (RSV), ε-viniferin (VNF) and vitisin B (VB) alone or in a combination, and those of a stilbene-enriched ex-tract (fraction). In the DPPH, FRAP, and NO scavenging assays, RSV present the highest activity with an IC50 of 83.69, 15.38 and 229 µM, respectively. Binary combinations resulted in additive interaction in the DPPH assay, synergic interaction for RSV+VNF and antagonistic for the others in the FRAP assay, and additive interaction for RSV+VNF or RSV+VB and antagonistic for VNF+VB in the NO scavenging assay. There was no significant difference between the antioxi-dant activity of the fraction and the combination RSV+VNF. In conclusion, RSV presented the highest effects, followed by VNF and VB. Interactions revealed additive or synergistic effects, depending on the combination of stilbenes and the assay.

Bismuth sodium titanate thin films (BNT) were deposited on Pt/SiN substrates by Sol-Gel spin coating technique under O2 atmosphere. Microstructural, structural, and electrical properties of the obtained film were investigated. Scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy micrographs were used to analyze the microstructure of the films. Furthermore, EDX analysis revealed a Na-deficient composition for the obtained film. X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy allowed the identification of a pure perovskite BNT phase. Dielectric, ferroelectric, and leakage current measurements revealed good frequency stability of the dielectric constant and dielectric losses for BNT thin film. The results are discussed in terms of Na-deficiency effects on the defect structure of BNT. Further, the film showed attractive electrostatic energy storage properties with energy density that exceeds 1.04 J/cm3 under E = 630 kV/cm.

The Smart Angel connected medical device allows ambulatory surgery patients to monitor their health by taking their own blood pressure and oxygen levels and by answering a health questionnaire from home. This preventive device must necessarily be "usable" by patients with different profiles. The objective of this article is, therefore, to better understand the links between certain characteristics of potential patients and usability. We conducted an experimental study involving thirty-six participants, investigating the effects of four patient characteristics (i.e. age, education, technophilia and health literacy) on usability measured in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction. The results show a moderate correlation between age, health literacy and usability. However, there is a weak correlation between technophilia and usability and no relationship between the level of education and usability. This study provides theoretical insights into the effects of user characteristics by means of personas in usability (ISO 9241-11).

Windup, a progressive increase in spinal response to repetitive stimulations of nociceptive peripheral fibres, is a useful model to study central sensitization to pain. Windup is expressed by neurons in of both dorsal and ventral horn of the spinal cord. In juvenile rats, it has been demonstrated both in vivo and in vitro that windup depends on calcium-dependent intrinsic properties and their modulation by synaptic components. However, the involvement of these two components in the adult remain controversial. In the present study, by means of electromyographic and extracellular recordings, we show that windup in adult, in vivo, depends on a synaptic balance between excitatory NMDA receptors and inhibitory glycinergic receptors. We also demonstrate the involvement of L-type calcium channels in both the dorsal and ventral horn of the spinal cord. These results indicate that windup in adults is similar to juveniles rats and that windup properties are the same regardless spinal network, i.e. sensory or motor.

Sign language recognition is essential in hearing-impaired people’s communication. Sign language recognition is an important concern in computer vision and has been developed with rapid progress in image recognition technology. However, sign language recognition using a general monocular camera has problems with occlusion and recognition accuracy in sign language recognition. In this research, we aim to improve accuracy by using a 2-axis bending sensor as an aid in addition to image recognition. We aim to achieve higher recognition accuracy by acquiring hand keypoint information of sign language actions captured by a monocular RGB camera and adding sensor assist. To improve sign language recognition, we need to propose new AI models. In addition, the amount of dataset is small because it uses the original data set of our laboratory. To learn using sensor data and image data, we used MediaPipe, CNN, and BiLSTM to perform sign language recognition. MediaPipe is a method for estimating the skeleton of the hand and face provided by Google. In addition, CNN is a method that can learn spatial information, and BiLSTM can learn time series data. Combining the CNN and BiLSTM methods yields higher recognition accuracy. We will use these techniques to learn hand skeletal information and sensor data. Additionally, the 2-axis Bending sensor glove data support training AI model. Using these methods, we aim to improve the recognition accuracy of sign language recognition by combining sensor data and hand skeleton data. Our method performed better than using skeletal information, achieving 96.5% accuracy in Top-1.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are an attractive therapeutic tool for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine owing to their regenerative and trophic properties. The best-known and most widely used are bone marrow MSCs which are currently being harvested and developed from a wide range of adult and perinatal tissues. MSCs from different sources are believed to have different secretion potentials and production which may influence their therapeutic effects. To confirm it, we performed a quantitative proteomic analysis based on the TMT technique of MSCs from three different sources: Wharton’s jelly (WJ), dental pulp (DP) and bone marrow (BM). Our analysis focused on MSC biological properties of interest for tissue engineering. We identified a total of 611 differentially expressed human proteins. WJ-MSCs showed the greatest variation compared with the other sources. WJ produced more extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins and ECM-affiliated proteins and appeared more able to modulate the inflammatory and immune response. BM-MSCs displayed enhanced differentiation and paracrine communication capabilities. DP-MSC appeared to promote exosome production. The results obtained confirm the existence of differences between WJ, DP and BM-MSC and the need to select the MSC origin according to the therapeutic objective sought.

The carbon-carbon cross-coupling of phenyl s-tetrazine (Tz) units at their ortho-phenyl positions allows to form constrained bis(tetrazines) with original tweezer structures. In these compounds, the face-to-face positioning of the central tetrazine cores is endorsed by pi-staking of the electron-poor nitrogen-containing heteroaromatic moieties. The resulting tetra-aromatic structure can be used as a weak coordinating ligand with cationic silver. This coordination generates a set of bis(tetrazine)‐silver(I) coordination complexes tolerating a large variety of counter anions of various geometries, namely, PF6–, BF4–, SbF6–, ClO4–, NTf2–, OTf2–. These compounds were characterized in the solid-state by single crystal XRD and reflectance spectra, and in solution by 1H NMR, mass spectrometry, electroanalysis and UV-visible absorption spectroscopy. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) structure of complexes {[Ag(3)][PF6]}∞ (4) and {[Ag(3)][SbF6]∞ (6), where 3 is 3,3'-[(1,1'-biphenyl)-2,2'-diyl]-6,6'-bis[phenyl]-1,2,4,5-tetrazine, revealed the formation of 1D polymeric chains, characterized by an evolution to a large opening of the original tweezer and a coordination of silver(I) via two chelating nitrogen atom and some C=C pi-interactions. Electrochemical and UV spectroscopic properties of the original tweezer and of the corresponding silver complex are reported and compared. 1H NMR titrations with AgNTf2 allowed to determine the stoichiometry, and apparent stability of two solution species, namely [Ag(3)]+ and [Ag(3)2]2+, that formed in CDCl3/CD3OD 2:1 v/v mixtures.

Background Natural Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast strains exhibit very large genotypic and phe-notypic diversity. Breeding programs taking advantage of this characteristic, are widely used for yeast selection in the wine industry, especially in the recent years when winemakers need to adapt their production to climate change. The aim of this work was to evaluate a Marker Assisted Se-lection (MAS) program to improve malic acid consumption capacity of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in grape juice. Methods Optimal individuals of two unrelated F1-hybrids were crossed to get a new genetic background carrying many “malic consumer” loci. Then, eleven QTLs already identified were used for implementing the MAS breeding program. Results By this way, extreme individuals able to consume more than 70% of malic acid in grape juice were selected. These individuals were tested in different enological matrixes and compared to their original parental strains. They greatly reduced the malic acid content at the end of alcoholic fermentations, they appeared to be robust to the environment and accelerate the ongoing of malo-lactic fermentations by Oenococcus oeni. Conclusions This study illustrates how MAS can be efficiently used for selecting industrial Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains with outlier properties for winemaking.

Prolonged application (> 20 minutes) of LV on muscles or tendons is known to reduce maximal isometric strength. However, the effect of short vibration durations (< 6 minutes) is still unknown. In fourteen participants, the changes in maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC) were measured after 1, 3, and 6 minutes of rest (CONT) or local vibration (LV) over the quadricipital tendon (frequency: 100 Hz; amplitude: 0.5mm). Before and after each condition, the amplitude of the twitch induced by a 100 Hz potentiated electrical doublet (PDPOT), relative electromyographic activity of the vastus medialis and rectus femoris muscle during the MVIC (RMSMVIC.M-1), the torque developed 50 ms after the onset of contraction (T50) and the voluntary activation level (VAL) were evaluated. None of the three LV durations significantly changed MVIC compared with the control condition (p = .379). Indices of central (i.e., VAL, T50, RMSMVIC.M-1) and peripheral (PDPOT) fatigue were unaffected (p > .147). In conclusion, a short duration of LV (<6min) on a voluminous muscle group, does not impair maximal force production nor induce any central or peripherical fatigue.

In this paper, we investigate the accuracy and robustness of three classes of methods for solving two-phase incompressible flows on a staggered grid. Here, the unsteady two-phase flow equations are simulated by finite volumes and penalty methods using implicit and monolithic approaches (such as the augmented Lagrangian and the fully coupled methods), where all velocity components and pressure variables are solved simultaneously (as opposed to segregated methods). The interface tracking is performed with a Volume-of-Fluid (VOF) method, using the Piecewise Linear Interface Construction (PLIC) technique. The home code Fugu is used for implementing the various methods. Our target application is the simulation of two-phase flows at high density and viscosity ratios, which are known to be challenging to simulate. The resulting strategies of monolithic approaches will be proven to be considerably better suited for these two-phase cases, they also allow to use larger time step than segregated methods.

Teeth segmentation plays a pivotal role in dental diagnosis, treatment, planning, and the development of computer-aided dental systems. It enables precise identification and analysis of dental structures, aiding in detecting dental abnormalities, measuring tooth dimensions, and assessing oral health conditions. Accurate teeth segmentation also facilitates the automation of dental workflows, leading to improved efficiency and reduced human error. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has witnessed rapid advancements, with various approaches developed or enhanced. While Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) have been widely used in medical image segmentation, the U-Net architecture has emerged as a standout performer due to its exceptional segmentation capabilities. This paper presents a proof of concept for the Attention U-Net architecture, as previously used in [1], applied to teeth segmentation. The study demonstrates the superior performance of this network in accurately segmenting teeth using a newly available benchmark dataset called Tufts Dental X-Ray Dataset. When trained and tested on 10-fold cross-validation, the model achieved an average dice coefficient of 95.01%, intersection over union of 90.6%, and pixel accuracy of 98.82%. These scores surpass those of all other networks implemented on the same dataset. By leveraging the Attention U-Net architecture, our research showcases the potential of advanced AI techniques in dental radiography. The findings contribute to the ongoing efforts to develop automated systems to assist dental professionals in their clinical practice.

Plants of the golden Camellia group are not only high-quality camellia germplasm , but also a plant group with rich medicinal and nutritional value, which are used as food, cosmetics and traditional medicine in China. There are approximately 50 species in this group around the world, and more than 30 species of golden camelliaplants have been published in China. The leaves and flowers of these species have similar shapes, so they are often confused as species. Our study used simplified genome sequencing technology to construct a phylogenetic tree of plants in the Chinese golden Camellia group and describe the evolutionary relationships . At the same time, the secondary metabolic indexes of total phenols, total flavonoids, total anthocyanins and ellagic acid in the leaves were determined., and principal component clustering analysis was performed . The results showed that the chemical classification and genetic phylogenetic trees showed some of the same trends, indicating that Camellia chinensis can be used as Biomarkers for chemical type. The research results provide phylogenetic information for the genotype and performance diversity of golden camelliaregionally distributed in China. At the same time, molecular biology phylogenetic methods are used to understand or explain the characteristics of secondary metabolites of golden Camellia , and provide theoretical basis for the search and development of potential bioactive substances.

Co-Zr amorphous alloys exhibit soft magnetic properties, whereas Co-rich crystalline magnetic phases in this alloy system display hard magnetic behaviour. In this study, an initial two-phase Co-Zr composite with an overall composition of 75 at.% Co and 25 at.% Zr was processed by high pressure torsion (HPT) and the effects of severe plastic deformation and subsequent thermal treatment on the structural evolution and its magnetic properties have been investigated. HPT processing allowed us to achieve an amorphous microstructure in the as-deformed state with low coercivity. To further tune magnetic properties and study the alloys’ crystallization behaviour, various annealed states are investigated. Microstructural properties are correlated to the magnetic properties and a decreasing coercivity with increasing annealing temperature is observed despite the onset of crystallization in the amorphous alloy. At higher annealing temperatures, coercivity increases again. The results appear promising to obtain tuneable rare-earth free magnetic materials by severe plastic deformation.

Crystallization often occurs in the laser welding of amorphous alloys, reducing the amorphous alloys’ properties. So, it is necessary to simulate the temperature field curve of the welding area by computer and then determine the power and laser moving speed of laser welding. In this paper, the temperature field curve of Zr41.2Ti13.8Cu12.5Ni10Be22.5(Vit1) amorphous alloy in laser welding is obtained by finite element analysis. The continuous heating curve (CHT) of Vit1 is fitted by the Vogel-Fulcher-Tammann (VFT) equation and the Kissinger equation. If the temperature field curve intersects with the CHT curve, crystallization occurs. The experiment results show that the VFT equation can be used to predict the crystallization of Vit1 better in laser welding. The tem-perature and welding time are increased by using low welding speed. Therefore, the temperature of the weld zone cannot fall in time, resulting intersection of the temperature field curve and the CHT curve. So, crystallization can be avoided if the welding speed is controlled within a rea-sonable range, and the highest temperature is kept under the CHT curve.

Huntington's disease (HD) is an inherited neurodegenerative disorder that usually starts during midlife with progressive alterations of motor and cognitive functions. The disease is caused by a CAG repeat expansion within the huntingtin gene leading to severe striatal neurodegeneration. Recent studies conducted on pre-HD children highlight early striatal developmental alterations starting as soon as 6 years old, the earliest age assessed. These findings, in line with data from mouse models of HD, raise the question of when during development do the first disease-related striatal alterations emerge or whether they contribute to the later appearance of the neurodegenerative features of the disease. In this review we will describe the different stages of striatal network development and then discuss recent evidence for its alterations in rodent models of the disease. We argue that a better understanding of the striatum’s development should help in assessing aberrant neurodevelopmental processes linked to the HD mutation.

Body weight support (BWS) and incline running (IR) are commonly used either during rehabilitation or during training separately, with many positive effects on athletes’ performance and rehabilitation. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of BWS and IR. In eighteen healthy men (age: 20.3 ± 1.2 yr, body weight: 70.2 ± 4.8 kg, body height: 179.6 ± 5.4 cm), the changes in electromyographic activity (EMGA) during a 10-min run with BWS (15% or 30% of body weight; in different occasions) and IR at 7%, as well as jumping performance and gait spatiotemporal parameters were evaluated. Lower Rating of Perceived Exertion and a significant decrease in VL (33,4%), SOL (17%), and GL EMGA (28.5%, p < 0.05) but not in GM (10.5%, p > 0.05), were observed during BWS30% at 7% slope compared to flat running. Also, low-frequency fatigue of the quadriceps was induced only after running without BWS at 7% slope (P = 0.011). No changes were found in jumping performance (p = 0.246) and gait spatiotemporal parameters (p > 0.05) except for flight time (p < 0.006). In conclusion, compared to normal flat running, BWS reduces electromyographic activity and fatigue during slope running.

Soft Rot Pectobacteriaceae (SRP) bacteria as Pectobacterium and Dickeya are phytopathogenic agents responsible of blackleg disease on several crop as potato, affecting the yield and depressing the seed production quality. However, neither conventional nor biocontrol product are available on the market to control this disease. In this study Pseudomonas PA14H7, a bacteria isolated from potato rhizosphere, was selected as a potential antagonist agent against Dickeya. In order to understand the mechanism involved in this antagonism we managed to identify the main active(s) molecule(s) produced by PA14H7. In that way, cell-free supernatant (CFS) of PA14H7 cultures were extracted and analyzed by LC-MS, GC-MS and NMR. We have correlated biological activity in extracted CFS-PA14H7 to the presence of 7-hydroxytropolone (7-HT) complexed with iron. Even if this molecule is produced by other Pseudomonas and mostly known for its antibacterial and antifungal activities, it is the first description of its involvement as an effective molecule against pectinolytic bacteria. We have synthesized 7-HT in order to determine the real amount produced by PA14H7 and to compare its activity at the same concentration with that of CFS-PA14H7. This study aims to understand the origin of the antagonist activity of PA14H7 as a potential biocontrol agent against potato blackleg.

Redox reactions are of great importance in environmental catalysis. Gold nanoparticles (NPs) have attracted much attention because of their catalytic activity and their localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR). In the present study, we investigated in details the reduction of ferricyanide (III) ion into ferrocyanide (II) ion catalyzed by spherical gold nanoparticles of two different sizes 15 nm and 30 nm and excited at their LSPR band. Experiments were conducted in the presence (or not) of sodium thiosulfate. This catalysis is enhanced in the presence of Au-NPs under visible light excitation. This reduction takes also place even without sodium thiosulfate. Our results demonstrate the implication of hot electrons in this reduction.

We study in this paper the time evolution of stock markets using a statistical physics approach. We consider an ensemble of agents who sell or buy a good according to several factors acting on them: the majority of the neighbors, the market ambiance, the variation of the price and some specific measure applied at a given time. Each agent is represented by a spin having a number of discrete states q or continuous states, describing the tendency of the agent for buying or selling. The market ambiance is represented by a parameter T which plays the role of the temperature in physics: low T corresponds to a calm market, high T to a turbulent one. We show that there is a critical value of T, say T_c, where strong fluctuations between individual states lead to a disordered situation in which there is no majority: the numbers of sellers and buyers are equal, namely the market clearing. The specific measure, by the government or by economic organisms, is parameterized by $H$ applied on the market at the time t₁ and removed at the time t₂. We have used Monte Carlo simulations to study the time evolution of the price as functions of those parameters. In particular we show that the price strongly fluctuates near T_c and there exists a critical value H_c above which the boosting effect remains after H is removed. Our model replicates the stylized facts in finance (time-independent price variation), volatility clustering (time-dependent dynamics) and persistent effect of a temporary shock. The second party of the paper deals with the price variation using a time-dependent mean-field theory. By supposing that the sellers and the buyers belong to two distinct communities with their characteristics different in both intra-group and inter-group interactions, we find the price oscillation with time. Results are shown and discussed.

Glaucomatous optic neuropathy, a major cause of blindness, is characterized by the loss of retinal gan-glion cells (RGCs) and degeneration of their axons. Mitochondria are deeply involved in maintaining RGCs and their axons. Therefore, lots of attempts have been made to develop diagnostic tools and therapies tar-geting mitochondria. Recently, we reported that mitochondria are uniformly distributed in unmyelinated axons of RGCs, possibly owing to the ATP gradient. Thus, using transgenic mice expressing yellow fluo-rescent protein targeting mitochondria exclusively in RGCs within the retina, we assessed the alteration of mitochondrial distributions induced by optic nerve crush (ONC) via in vitro flat-mount retinal sections and in vivo fundus images captured through the cornea with a confocal scanning ophthalmoscope. We observed that the mitochondrial distribution in unmyelinated axons of RGCs that survived the ONC remained uni-form, although their density increased. Furthermore, via in vitro analysis, we discovered that the mitochon-drial size is attenuated following ONC. These results suggest that ONC induces mitochondrial fission without disrupting the uniform mitochondrial distribution. This mechanism may help to prevent axonal degeneration and apoptosis. The in vivo visualization system of axonal mitochondria in RGCs may be ap-plicable in the diagnosis of progression of optic neuropathy.

Based on ICT, specifically smartphones and their mobile apps, this exploratory study questions the impact of EMIs on employees’ perceived stress during work days. A sample of 15 workers, working at least 3 days a week - divided into one control groups (n=5) and one experimental group (n=10) - have used an EMI application “Mon Sherpa” for one-week length. Participants responded to two questionnaires at the beginning of the study: a sociodemographic questionnaire and the PSM-9 (Psychological Stress Measure). They completed the PSM-9 once again in the middle and at the end of the experiment, to compare the score’s evolution depending on the formed groups. Additionally, semi-structured interviews have been conducted with participants of the experimental group (n=9) to identify their application’s perception. Statistics results indicate no effects of the EMIs. However, interviews indicated somatic, behavioral, and cognitive evolutions throughout the experiment in the field of stress, anxiety, and invasive thoughts. These conflicting results might be explained by an immediate but not lasting effect of EMI’s on work-related stress. It may also be partly explained by some limitations of the study. More cross-disciplinary and larger research is required.

The influence of the grain structure on the tensile deformation strength is studied for precipitation-strengthened Cu-0.2%Zr at 673 K. Subgrains and grains are formed by ECAP and annealing. The fraction of high-angle boundaries increases with prestrain. Subgrains and grains coarsen during deformation. This leads to softening in the quasi-stationary state. The initial quasi-stationary state of severely predeformed, ultrafine-grained material exhibits relatively high rate-sensitivity at relatively high stresses. This is interpreted as result of the stress dependences of the quasi-stationary subgrain size and the volume fraction of subgrain-free grains.

We report on space-selective crystallization of congruent and polar Sr2TiSi2O8 crystals in a stoichiometric SrO-TiO2-SiO2 glass induced by (1030 nm, 300 fs) femtosecond laser irradiation. This allows us to compare with non-congruent laser induced crystallization of polar LiNbO3, in non stoichiometric Li2O-Nb2O5-SiO2 glass and gain information on the mechanism of nanocrystals orientation with the laser polarization that we pointed out previously. Using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Second-harmonic generation (SHG) and electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD), we studied the laser induced crystallization according to the laser processing parameters (pulse energy, pulse repetition rate, scanning speed). We found 1) a domain where the laser track is filled with crystals not perfectly textured (low energy), 2) a domain where an amorphous volume remain surrounded by a crystallized shell (high energy). This arises from Sr out-diffusion and may gives rise to crystallization of both SrTiO3 and Sr2TiSi2O8 phases at low speed. In the one-phase domain (at higher speed), it is found the possibility to elaborate a tube with a perfect fresnoite texture. Significant difference in size and morphology whereas crystallization threshold remains similar are discussed based on glases thermal propeties. Contrarily to Li2O-Nb2O5-SiO2 (LNS) glass, no domain of oriented nanocrystallization controlled by the laser polarization has been found in SrO-TiO2-SiO2 (STS) glass, which is attributed to the larger crystallization speed in STS glass. No nanogratings have also been found that is likely due to the congruency of the glass.

Cycas (family Cycadaceae), spread throughout tropical and subtropical regions, is crucial in con-servation biology. Due to the subtle morphological variations between species, a solid spe-cies-level phylogeny for Cycas is lacking. Because of the rapid progress in high-throughput se-quencing technology, it has become feasible to acquire complete chloroplast (cp) genome se-quences, which provide a molecular foundation for phylogenetic research. In the present study, we employed next-generation sequencing technology to assemble and analyze the chloroplast genomes of six Cycas plants, including their genome structure, GC content, and nucleotide di-versity. The Cycas chloroplast genome spans 162,038 to 162,159 bp and contains 131 genes, in-cluding 86 protein-coding genes, 37 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes, and 8 ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes. Through a comparative analysis, we found that the chloroplast genome of Cycas was highly conserved, as indicated by the contraction and expansion of the inverted repeat (IR) re-gions and sequence polymorphisms. In addition, several non-coding sites (psbK-psbI, petN-psbM, trnE-UUC-psbD, ndhC-trnM-CAU, and rpl32-trnP-GGG) showed significant varia-tion. The utilization of phylogenetic analysis relying on protein-coding genes has substantiated the division of Cycas primarily into four groups. The application of these findings will prove valuable in evaluating genetic diversity and the phylogenetic connections among closely related species. Moreover, it will provide essential support for the advancement of wild germplasm re-sources.

Fiber-opening treatment of commingled yarns consisting of thermoplastic nylon fibers and carbon fibers could produce superior CFRTP, but few studies toward that end have been conducted. In this study, we investigated whether an open weave fabric consisting of commingled yarns made of carbon and nylon fibers could shorten the impregnation distance of resin to carbon fibers, and there are few reports on the design of fabrics by opening carbon fiber bundles consisting of commingled yarns. From this study, following are cleared. The impregnation speed of the nylon resin on the carbon fiber was very fast, less than 1 minute. As the molding time increased, the tensile strength and tensile fracture strain slightly decreased and the nylon resin deteriorated. The effects of molding time on flexural strength, flexural modulus, and flexural fracture strain were negligible. From the cross-sectional observation conducted to confirm the impregnation state of the matrix resin, no voids were observed in the molded products regardless of molding time or molding pressure, indicating that resin impregnation into the carbon fiber bundle of the open-fiber mixed yarn fabric was completed at a molding pressure of 5 MPa and a molding time of 5 min.

Membrane Inlet Mass Spectrometry (MIMS) was used to analyze monochloramine solutions (NH₂Cl) and ammonia solutions in a compact FTICR. Chemical ionization enables identification and quantification of the products present in the permeate. The responses of protonated monochloramine and ammonium increase linearly with the solution concentration. The enrichments were respectively 1.2 and 5.5. Pervaporation is dependent on pH and only the basic form of ammonia NH₃ pervaporates through the membrane. Unexpectedly, the small ammonia molecule permeated very slowly. It could be due to interactions with water molecules inside the membrane that create clusters. Moreover, NH₂Cl solutions, in addition to the NH₃Cl⁺ signal, presented a strong NH₄⁺ signal at m/z 18.034 . Ammonia presence in the low-pressure zone before ionization is probable as NH₄⁺ was detected with all the precursors used, particularly CF₃⁺ and trimethylbenzene that presents a proton affinity higher than monochloramine. Ammonia may be formed inside the membrane due to the fact that NH₂Cl is unstable and may react with the water present in the membrane. Those results highlight the need for caution when dealing with chloramines in MIMS and more generally with unstable molecules.

French academies almost all implement reactivity drills and small-sided games (SSG) the day preceding a match (MD-1). The present study aimed to determine the physical impact of different training durations on MD-1 on the subsequent matchday performance (MD). Eleven elite U19 academy soccer players con-ducted three typical training sessions lasting 45min (TS45), 60min (TS60), and 75min (TS75) on MD-1. Dur-ing TS60, warm-up, reactivity and SSG were 10, 15, and 24min, respectively, plus coaches' feedback or wa-ter breaks. Durations decreased and increased by 25% for TS45 and TS75, respectively. Tests were con-ducted on MD-4 (CONTROL) and MD before the match (TEST). Tests consisted of a counter movement jump (CMJ), 20m sprint, Illinois agility test (IAT), and Hooper questionnaire. CONTROL values were simi-lar over the three experimental conditions. TEST on MD revealed greater CMJ for TS45 (42.7 ± 5.1cm) compared to TS60 (40.5 ± 5.5cm, p=0.032) and TS75 (40.9 ± 5.7cm, p=0.037). 20m time was lower for TS45 (3.07 ± 0.10s, p<0.001) and TS60 (3.13 ± 0.10s, p=0.017) compared to TS75 (3.20 ± 0.10s). IAT time was lower on TS45 (14.82 ± 0.49s) compared to TS60 (15.43 ± 0.29s, p<0.001) and TS75 (15.24 ± 0.33s, p=0.006). Further-more, the Hooper index was lower at TEST for TS45 (7.64 ± 1.50) compared to TS60 (11.00 ± 3.49, p=0.014) and TS75 (9.73 ± 2.41, p=0.045) indicating a better readiness level. We concluded that as training session duration increases, performance decreases on MD. A 45min training session including reactivity and SSG exercises is therefore recommended on MD-1.

This study aimed to apply different complexity-based methods to surface electromyography (EMG) in order to detect neuromuscular changes after realistic warm-up and stretching procedures. Sixteen volunteers conducted two experimental sessions. They were tested before, after a standardized warm-up, and after a stretching exercise (static or neuromuscular nerve gliding technique). Tests included measurements of the knee flexion torque and EMG of biceps femoris (BF) and semitendinosus (ST) muscles. EMG was analyzed using the root mean square (RMS), sample entropy (SampEn), percentage of recurrence and determinism following a recurrence quantification analysis (%Rec and %Det) and a scaling parameter from a detrended fluctuation analysis. Torque was significantly greater after warm-up as compared to baseline and after stretching. RMS was not affected by the experimental procedure. In contrast, SampEn was significantly greater after warm-up and stretching as compared to baseline values. %Rec was not modified but %Det for BF muscle was significantly greater after stretching as compared to baseline. The a scaling parameter was significantly lower after warm-up as compared to baseline for ST muscle. From the present results, complexity-based methods applied to the EMG give additional information than linear-based methods. They appeared sensitive to detect EMG complexity increases following warm-up.

Molecular dynamics simulations were carried out to investigate the atomic structure of a model Cu64Zr36 bulk metallic glass (BMG). It is found that the amount of icosahedral content of the system is significantly increased in a well relaxed structure. While we considered four connection types of vertex-, edge-, face-, and volume-sharing, the huge cluster in the relaxed samples mainly involve volume-type connection and exhibits a remarkable athermal plasticity that great stiffness and great yield strength compared to the as-quenched samples. In addition, the bond-angle distribution of annealed sample shows sharp peaks at specific bond angles which is an evidence of crystallized Laves-phase formed by icosahedral atoms, however the peaks are to be broaden after loading, which indicates decreasing amount of icosahedral content and their shape distortion. These results suggest that icosahedral content in a bulk metallic glasses plays a key role to determine the mechanical properties such as rigidity and maximum stress carrying capacity.

Diffusion-controlled cyclic voltammograms at fast scan rates show peak shifts as well as decreases in the peak currents from the predicted diffusion-controlled currents especially when currents are large in low concentration of supporting electrolyte. This has been conventionally recognized as an IR-drop effect by solution resistance on the peaks as well as heterogeneous kinetics. It is also brought about by negatively capacitive currents associated with charge transfer reactions. The reaction product generates dipoles with counterions to yield a capacitance, of which current flows oppositely to that of the double layer capacitance. The three effects are specified here in the oxidation of a ferrocenyl derivative by fast scan voltammetry. The expression for voltammograms complicated with IR-drop is derived analytically, and yields deformed voltammograms. The peak shift is approximately linear with the IR-term, but exhibits a convex variation. Dependence of some parameters on the peaks by the IR-drop is compared with those by the negative capacitance. The latter is more conspicuous than the former under conventional conditions. The two effects cannot be distinguished specifically except for variations of conductance of the solution.

Chronoamperometric curves of the oxidation of a ferrocenyl derivative by the potential step showed diffusion controlled-like currents less than the Cottrell's equation at a platinum wire electrode. The lower deviation cannot be explained by the Butler-Volmer heterogeneous kinetics, but was ascribed to the negatively capacitive current associated with the redox reaction. The deviation at the fully oxidized potential corresponds to the non-zero concentration at the electrode surface, which cannot be predicted from the Nernst equation. The Nernst equation expresses the relationship of the potential with the activity at the electrode surface rather than the concentration. The diffusion equation provides the relation of the current with the surface concentration rather than the activity. The negative capacitance or the non-zero concentration may arise from structure formation on the electrode owing to the dipole-dipole interaction, which is similar to the generation of the double layer capacitance including frequency dispersion. On this concept, we derive here expressions for the lowered diffusion-controlled current and the time-dependent surface concentration. The negatively capacitive current shows the time-dependence of t-0.9, which is similar to the decay of the double layer capacitive currents. The surface concentration decays with the t-0.4-dependence.

Corticospinal excitability and particularly the balance between cortical inhibitory and excitatory processes (assessed in a muscle using transcranial magnetic stimulation), are affected by neurodegenerative pathologies or following a stroke. Non-fatiguing conventional locomotor exercise, such as cycling or walking, decreases intracortical inhibition and/or increases intracortical facilitation. These modifications notably seem to be a consequence of neurotrophic factors (e.g., brain-derived neurotrophic factors) resulting from hemodynamic solicitation. Furthermore, it can be inferred from non-invasive brain and peripheral stimulation studies that repeated activation of neural networks can endogenously shape neuroplasticity. Such mechanisms could also occur following eccentric exercises (i.e., active lengthening of the muscle), during which motor-related cortical potential is of greater magnitude and lasts longer (assessed by electroencephalography) than during concentric exercises (i.e., muscle shortening). As single-joint eccentric exercise decreased short- and long-interval intracortical inhibition and increased intracortical facilitation (assessed by paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation immediately after), locomotor eccentric exercise may be even more potent by adding hemodynamic-related neuroplastic processes to endogenous processes. Besides, eccentric exercise is especially useful to develop relatively high force levels at low cardiorespiratory and perceived intensity, which can be a training goal in addition to inducing neuroplastic changes. Further studies are required to understand how neuroplasticity is 1) acutely influenced by locomotor exercise characteristics (e.g., intensity, duration), 2) modulated by an exercise-based rehabilitation program, 3) related to functional cognitive and motor outcomes relevant to pathological population.

The effect of ferromagnetic CaMnO3 (CMO) addition on structural, magnetic, dielectric, and ferroelec-tric properties of BiFeO3 are presented. X ray diffraction and Raman investigation allowed the identifi-cation of single pseudo cubic perovskite structure. The magnetic measurement showed that the pre-pared films exhibit a ferromagnetic behavior at low temperature with both coercive field and remnant magnetization increased with increasing CMO content. However, a deterioration of magnetization was observed at room temperature. Ferroelectric study revealed an antiferroelectric like behavior with a pinched P-E hysteresis loop for 5%CMO doping BFO resulting in low remnant polarization and double hysteresis loops. Whereas, high remnant polarization and coercive field with a likely square hysteresis loop are obtained for 10 % CMO addition. Furthermore, a bipolar resistive switching behavior with a threshold voltage of about 1.8V is observed for high doped film that can be linked to the ferroelectric polarization switching.

We demonstrate for the first time efficient mechanical to electrical energy conversion using InGaN/GaN nanowires (NWs). Using an atomic force microscope equipped with a modified Resiscope module, we analyse the piezoelectric energy generation of GaN NWs and demonstrate an important enhancement when integrating in their volume a thick In-rich InGaN insertion. The piezoelectric response of InGaN/GaN NWs can be tuned as a function of the InGaN insertion thickness and position in the NW volume. The energy harvesting is favoured by the presence of a PtSi/GaN Schottky diode which allows to efficiently collect the piezo-charges generated by InGaN/GaN NWs. Average output voltages up to 330 ± 70 mV and a maximum value of 470 mV per NW has been measured for nanostructures integrating 70 nm-thick InGaN insertion capped with a thin GaN top layer. This latter value establishes an increase of about 35% of the piezo-conversion capacity in comparison with binary p-doped GaN NWs. By considering these output signals, we estimate a maximum power density generated by one layer of dense InGaN/GaN-based NW of about 3.3 W/cm². These results settle the new state-of-the-art for piezo-generation from GaN-based NWs and offer a promising perspective for extending the performances of the piezoelectric sources.

"Mem u Zin" holds a paramount status in Kurdish literature, celebrated for its profound exploration of love. Authored by the esteemed Kurdish poet and writer Ahmet Khani in the 17th century, this epic masterpiece represents the pinnacle of literary achievement within the Kurdish cultural milieu. By conducting a concise analysis of "Mem u Zin," our aim was to shed light on the underlying factors that contribute to the perceived separation of Kurdish society from perfection. We provided a comprehensive view of the linguistic obstacles encountered by the Kurds in this exploration.

The thermal properties of a building envelope are key indicators of the energy performance of the building. Therefore, methods are needed to determine quantities like U-values or heat capacitance in a fast, reliable way and with as little impact on the use of the building as possible. In this paper a technique is proposed that relies on a simplified electrical analogical model of building envelope components which can cover their dynamic thermal behavior. The parameters of this model are optimized to produce the best fit between simulated and measured outside surface temperatures. As the temperatures can be measured remotely with an infrared camera this approach requires significantly less installation effort and intrusion in the building than other methods. At the same time, a single measurement provides data for a large range of locations on a facade or a roof. The paper describes the method and a first experimental implementation of it. The experiment indicates that this method has the potential to produce results which have an accuracy that is comparable to standardized reference methods.

Thermophysical characterization of three paraffin waxes (RT27, RT21 and RT35HC) is carried out in this study using DSC, TGA and transient plane source technics. Then, a numerical study of their melting in a rectangular enclosure is examined. The enthalpy-porosity approach is used to formulate this problem in order to understand the heat transfer mechanism during the melting process. The analysis of the solid-liquid interface shape, the temperature field shows that the conduction is the dominant heat transfer mode in the beginning of the melting process. It is followed by a transition regime and the natural convection becomes the dominant heat transfer mode. The effects of the Rayleigh number and the aspect ratio of the enclosure on the melting phenomenon are studied and it is found that the intensity of the natural convection increases as the Rayleigh number is higher and the aspect ratio is smaller. In the second part of the numerical study, a comparison of the performance of paraffins waxes during the melting process is conducted. Results reveals that from a kinetically RT21 is the most performant but in term of heat storage capacity, it was inferred that RT35HC is the most efficient PCM.

In order to explore the genetic diversity of the extremely small population wild plant Habenaria dentata and protect and optimize its wild resources. The genetic diversity of 133 samples from 6 wild populations of H.dentata was analyzed by ISSR molecular marker technique to provide a scientific basis for the screening of improved germplasm resources. The results show that the average number of alleles (Na) was 1.765, the average number of effective alleles (Ne) was 1.424, the average Nei 's gene diversity index (He) was 0.252, the average Shannon information diversity index (I) was 0.381, and the average percentage of polymorphic loci (PPL) was 76.499%. The variation within populations was 77.34%, and the variation between populations was 22.66%. Gene flow (Nm) was 1.705 8, greater than 1. The results of cluster analysis showed that the six populations were mainly divided into four branches and not classified according to geographical location. There was no significant correlation between geographical location and genetic distance between populations (r=0.557, P>0.05). The genetic diversity of H.dentata is high. Among the six wild populations, the genetic diversity of Mulun population is the highest and this population can be used as a key protection unit.

The recent outbreak and spread of the COVID-19 virus infection across the world has seen a massive global system-wide shutdown of human social and economic activity. Both developed and developing nations have been forced to contain and isolate their citizens as much as possible. However, the continuous rising cases in both categories of nations, especially those with poor or nonexistent testing facilities and healthcare systems pose a hidden danger. The seemingly lack of and access to a truly global concerted research effort in both temporary but effective symptom mitigation may lead to more deaths in infected cases. We propose that a fusion of both technological and home-grown solutions can be utilized effectively to manage symptoms. This would add to the preventive methods of social distancing, isolation, quarantine and frequent handwashing to halt the impact of the disease. We also hope to spur further research in such drug/non-drug combination therapy-based methods with emphasis on effectiveness based on quality of nutrient sources.

To design and optimize liquid-assisted processes such as reactive infiltration for fabricating refractory SiC/ZrSi₂ composites, basic investigations on the interfacial phenomena occurring when liquid Si-based alloys are in contact with C and SiC substrates, are key steps. Indeed, targeted wettability studies may provide helpful indications for finding the suitable set of operating conditions to succeed the fabrication of composites via the reactive infiltration and for predicting the key influencing mechanisms. The wettability of glassy carbon (GC) by two different Si-rich Si-Zr alloys as a function of the Si-content has been investigated by the sessile drop method at T = 1450°C. The more relevant results obtained in terms of equilibrium contact angle values, spreading kinetics, reactivity and developed interface microstructures are reported in the paper and compared with the behaviour previously observed in the Si-27Zr/GC system. The increase of Si-content only weakly affected the overall phenomena observed at the interface, which from the practical point of view means that even the Si-Zr alloys with higher Si-content, as respect to the eutectic alloy (Si-27Zr), could be potentially used as infiltrant materials.

Shipbreaking research has not been in the forefront until the last decade in which environmental and occupational hazards have been highlighted while economic sustainability and contextual conditions were not equally considered. The adoption of a triple bottom line approach across core business issues (environmental impacts, workplace safety ) as well as peripheral stakeholders expectation (environmental sustainability focus) has been retarded due to the less attention on the latter. Based on the findings of the 128 review papers, the study suggests that organizational learning and economic sustainability needs to prioritize through the formation of strange alliance among the stakeholders. The study argues that the dialogue and discussion on the peripheral stakeholders (NGOs, yard managers, national and international policy organizations) would lead to a more sustainable shipbreaking industry in the south Asian regions.

Fragile X Syndrome (FXS) is a pervasive developmental disorder and the most common monogenic cause of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Female heterozygous (HET) carriers play a major role in the transmission of the pathology and present several FXS- and ASD-like behavioral alterations. Despite their clear genetic origins, FXS symptoms are known to be modulated by environmental factors, e.g., the exposure to chronic stress, especially during critical life periods, such as pregnancy. Pregnancy, together with pups’ care, constitutes maternal experience, i.e., another powerful environmental factor affecting several neurobehavioral functions in females. Here we investigated the impact of maternal experience on the long-term effects of stress in Fmr1-HET female mice. Our findings demonstrated that the behavioral abnormalities of HET females, i.e., hyperactivity and memory deficits, were unaffected by stress or maternal experience. In contrast, stress, independently of maternal experience, induced the appearance of cognitive deficits in WT mice. Maternal experience increased anxiety levels in all mice and enhanced their corticosterone levels, concomitantly promoting the effects of stress on social communication and adrenal glands. Our results advance our understanding of the environmental modulation of the behavioral alterations observed in FXS mice and highlight the long-term impact of maternal experience and its interactions with chronic stress.

Solid-state lighting has been replacing conventional lighting in the market, raising concerns for implementing an efficient end-of-life management system. Since LED waste streams have not been quite dominant, characterization studies (product-level characteristics, component-wise information, bill of materials, diversity, and differences) are inconsistent and having substantial gaps. This study investigates the end-of-life LED lamp literature, focusing on the bill-of-materials, and reveals that the characterization procedure suffers from a severe lack of sample representativeness. Consequently, characterization results are widely varied and not generalizable. Moreover, most of the studies did not inform and document the detailed sample characteristics, precluding the possibility of identifying reasons for variation. Combining available information from the recent studies, we present a mass distribution at the component level, exemplifying the prospect for meeting EU regulatory limit and the need for more insight at the lamp and component level. To fill the disconnection between lamp level characteristics and component and material content, we propose a characterization protocol that carefully documents lamp, component, and material level information by establishing a lamp-component–material composition nexus. The protocol may help researchers, policymakers, and industrial stakeholders conduct a systematic characterization, analyze complexities and prepare for a sustainable solution.

In the present work, the main methodologies used to reconstruct wind fields in the U-SPACE have been analyzed. The SESAR U-SPACE program aims to develop an Unmanned Traffic Management system with a progressive introduction of procedures and services designed to support a secure access to the air space for a large number of drones. The Italian Aerospace Research Center (CIRA) is carrying out the EDUS project focused on the development and validation of operating platform demonstrators serving the micro-scale weather forecasts and the collection of information necessary for the definition of the flight plan of the drones in urban contexts. For this reason, the state of art methodologies that can be used to estimate winds at low altitudes in urban areas starting from available observational data have been reviewed in the present paper. Some of these techniques were originally developed for reconstruction at high altitudes, but successively adapted to treat different heights. A common approach to all techniques is to approximate the probabilistic distribution of wind speed over time with some parametric models, apply spatial interpolation to the parameters and then read the predicted value.

The purpose of this study is to estimate the mean transitioning probabilities from a Healthy state to malaria positive uncomplicated state or to malaria positive severe state. It also classifies the various transitioning probabilities of moving through the various states based on some baseline characteristics. Malaria test results for 2019 over a 12-month period were collected from the University of Ghana school clinic. An H-U model for the study was developed and the transition rates from the cross-sectional data are indicated. With two states Healthy (H) and Uncomplicated (U) forming a state space, there were four possible transitions. The results show that the probability of transitioning from a Healthy state to a malaria positive state is 0.03% while the probability that an individual will remain at Healthy state (H) after the test is 99.73%. It was found that if an individual is already positive and has taken medication the probability that its second test came out negative is 6.45% while the chances that it will remain positive but uncomplicated is 93.55%. The study also showed that in the long run, about 95.98% of persons who visited the student clinic with malaria symptoms recorded negative tests for malaria parasite while about 4% recorded positive for malaria. In terms of disaggregation by gender, it was realized that the number of reported negative test results were higher for females (97.08%) than for males (96.13%). However, the infection rate is higher for males (3.87%) than females (2.92%). It is recommended that in as much as the University of Ghana has two health centers (a clinic and hospital), there should be a centralized system to track students’ health so research done would not be biased.

The CMT (Cold Metal Transfer) arc welding process is a convenient instrument for the assembly of thin sheets [1], [2]. More particularly, it permits the decrease of the amount of heat transferred to the parts to-be assembled, thus reducing their subsequent deformations. The present work aims at simulating the CMT welding of thin stainless-steel sheets in order to develop an approach that allows the prediction of temperature fields, as well as final deformations induced by the welding process. For that purpose, instrumented tests and numerical simulations were set aiming at comparing the experiments with simulations. Butt-welding of stainless-steel sheets was considered, with a thickness ranging from 1 to 1.2 mm. The weld seam samples were observed in order to set an equivalent heat source for each configuration. Moreover, the electric current and voltage were surveyed, and temperature measurements were performed using K-type thermocouples. In addition, displacement measurements were obtained using the DIC (Digital Image Correlation) technique. Thermomechanical simulations were then carried out using an equivalent heat source approach, considering the phase changes of elements, i.e. the transitions from solid to liquid and from liquid to solid. These simulations also consider the actual geometry of seams induced by addition of a filler material.

Phytocannabinoids, including the non-addictive cannabis component cannabidivarin (CBDV), have been reported to hold therapeutic potential in several neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs). Nonetheless, the therapeutic value of phytocannabinoids for treating Fragile X syndrome (FXS), a major NDD, remains unexplored. Here, we characterized the neurobehavioral effects of CBDV at doses of 20 or 100 mg/kg in the Fmr1-knockout (Fmr1-KO) mouse model of FXS using two temporally-different intraperitoneal regimens: subchronic 10-day delivery during adulthood (Study 1: rescue treatment) or chronic 5-week delivery at adolescence (Study 2: preventive treat-ment). Behavioral tests assessing FXS-like abnormalities included anxiety, locomotor, cognitive, social and sensory alterations. Expression of inflammatory and plasticity markers was investigated in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. When administered during adulthood (Study 1), the effects of CBDV were marginal, rescuing at the lower dose only the acoustic hyper-responsiveness of Fmr1-KO mice and at both doses, their altered hippocampal expression of neurotrophins. When administered during adolescence (Study 2), CBDV at both doses prevented the cognitive, social and acoustic alterations of adult Fmr1-KO mice and modified the expression of several inflammatory brain markers in both wild-type littermates and mutants. These findings warrant the therapeutic potential of CBDV for preventing neurobehavioral alterations associated with FXS, highlighting the relevance of its early administration.

Laser patterning of implant materials for bone tissue engineering purposes has shown to be a promising technique to control cell properties such as adhesion or differentiation, resulting in an enhanced osteointegration. However, the perspective of patterning the bone tissue side interface to generate microstructure effects has never been investigated. In the present study, three different laser-generated patterns were machined on the bone surface with the aim to identify the best surface morphology compatible with osteogenic-related cells recolonization. The laser patterned bone tissue was characterized by electron scanning microscopy and confocal microscopy in order to obtain a comprehensive picture of the bone surface morphology. Cortical bone patterning impact upon cell compatibility and cytoskeleton rearrangement to the patterned surfaces was performed with Stromal Cells from Apical Papilla (SCAPs). Results indicated that laser machining had no detrimental effect upon consecutively seeded cells metabolism. Orientation assays revealed that surface patterning characterized by larger hatch distances was correlated with a higher cell cytoskeletal conformation to the laser-machined patterns. For the first time, to our knowledge, bone is considered and assessed here as a potentially engineered-improvable biological interface. Further studies shall focus on in vivo implications of this direct patterning.

In this article, we discuss the concept of infinity (∞), infinitesimals □ , and a new mathematical operation that expands calculations into the realm of the infinite. This breakthrough allows for the computation of infinite numbers, leading to new possibilities for mathematical research and practical applications. By introducing infinite numbers, numerous advantages arise, such as accurately representing limits, divergences in integrals and infinite series, and extending calculations to infinity. This mathematical advancement opens doors to exploring uncharted territories, offering valuable insights and breakthroughs.

Abstract:Global ship demolition is mostly concentrated in south Asian countries, namely Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and China, since 1990’s, having competitive advantage for their high natural tide, and low environmental and social costs. Due to high social and environmental externalities, stakeholders increase monitoring of the externalities and continue to prescribe improvement towards sustainability, which put pressures on profitability and competitiveness. As a consequence, also seen in the past, a leakage effect may emerge, leading to shift of this activity to a region, with relatively less monitored and less stricter on social and environmental impacts. Unfortunately, the leakage effect is never predicted in shipbreaking in order to understand the level of push compatible in the given socio-economic contexts. In this study, we have attempted to predict the future ship demolition landscape, applying machine learning technique to 34,531 in-service vessels worldwide, larger than 500 gross tonnage (GT), which is run against a learning model based on 3500 demolished vessels from 2014. This study shows that redistribution may occur among the top recycling nations: India may emerge out to be a dominant player in shipbreaking, surpassing Bangladesh by a margin of two-fold, while Pakistan and China are in decreasing trend. In addition, the leakage effect is observed, in that Vietnam is predicted to be the fourth largest ship demolition country, while China and Pakistan recede from the third and fourth place to 6th and 8th. Turkey is predicted to advance from fifth position to third position by vessel count but stays same in term of total GT dismantled. Although it is not clear if any leakage is to be observed in the near future, this study may be a model for future predictive analytics and help stakeholders take evidence-based business decisions.

The shipbreaking industry is located predominantly in South Asian countries, and dismantles end-of-life ships to meet national steel demand. There are charges that this industry exploits local environmental, economic and social conditions to boost profits. The majority of this previous research often draws from a single disciplinary point of view that ignores or downplays complexities and trade-offs, precluding realistic policy improvement. Here we review 110 shipbreaking papers published in international peer reviewed journals that are indexed in SCOPUS, Science Direct and Google Scholar. We found that to date, shipbreaking research revolves around the coastal contamination of end-of-life ships waste over many other topics, and lacks critical interdisciplinary studies that explain trade-offs between environmental, social and economic factors that would better inform policy formulations for improvement of worker safety and environmental conditions. We propose a Life Cycle Sustainability assessment (LCSA) framework that could incorporate these trade-offs in a single analysis. We hope this review guides future studies towards more comprehensive sustainability measurement of shipbreaking activities.

The complexity of analysis pipelines in biomedical sciences poses a severe challenge for the transparency and reproducibility of results. Researchers are increasingly incorporating software development technologies and methods into their analyses, but this is a quickly evolving landscape and teams may lack the capabilities to set up their own complex IT infrastructure to aid reproducibility. Basing a reproducible research strategy on readily available solutions with zero or low set-up costs whilst maintaining technological flexibility to incorporate domain-specific software tools is therefore of key importance. We outline a practical approach for robust reproducibility of analysis results. In our examples, we rely exclusively on established open-source tools and free services. Special emphasis is put on the integration of these tools with best practices from software development and free online services for the biostatistics domain.

A two-layer Fe-Cr-Al-Zr surface alloy was synthesized on a zirconium substrate by magnetron sputtering and subsequent low-energy high-current electron-beam (LEHCEB) processing. Thicknesses of the top Fe69Cr20Al11 (at.%) relatively large-grained (~1 µm) and transition Fe-Zr Cr-Al amorphous layers were about 0.7 and 0.6 µm, respectively. In turn, the amorphous layer consisted of two Fe64–54Zr8–22Cr21–17Al8–7 and Fe40–16Zr42–78Cr12–4Al6–2 (at.%) sublayers, differing in both zirconium and iron concentrations in wide ranges, which were separated by another nanocrystalline interlayer. The Fe-Cr-Al-Zr surface alloy serve as a diffusion barrier, preventing interaction of the zirconium substrate with oxygen from an environment. It was thermally stable up to ≈1173 K.

The article focuses on the galvanic replacement synthesis of Ti-Ni and Zr-Ni metal systems with the "core-shell" structure which are potential precursors for intermetallics. The authors defined the effective synthesis parameters and the formation features of polymetallic systems character-ized by granulometric, phase and elemental composition. The X-ray fluorescence and X-ray phase analysis methods showed that the deposition of nickel on dispersed titanium and zirconium leads to the production of test samples with phase composition representing a mechanical mixture of Ni and Ti, Ni and Zr. The method of X-ray fluorescence analysis showed that the presence of hy-drofluoric acid with a 0.5-1.5 M concentration results in the formation of fixed quantitative ratios of elements in the precipitate, which allows the quantitative composition of dispersed systems "titanium - nickel", "zirconium - nickel" to be regulated within a relatively wide range. Scanning electron microscopy proved that all synthesized systems are characterized by a highly porous structure that follows the titanium and zirconium particle surface contour and the presence of spherical nanoscale subunits on the formed particle surface.

Fe rich soft magnetic alloys are candidates for applications as magnetic sensors and actuators. These alloys can also be added to hard magnetic compounds to obtain spring magnets. In this work we produce two nanocrystalline Fe-Zr-B-Cu alloys by the powder metallurgy powder technology of mechanical alloying. The increase of the boron content favors the reduction of the crystalline size. Thermal analysis (by differential scanning calorimetry) shows at temperatures between 450 and 650 K wide exothermic processes, associated with the relaxation of tensions of the alloys produced by milling. At high temperatures, a main crystallization peak is found. The apparent activation of this process was determined by Kissinger and isoconversional methods. The values are compared with those found in the scientific literature. Likewise, adapted thermogravimetry permits to determine the Curie temperature. The functional response has been analyzed by hysteresis loop cycles. According to the composition, the decrease of the Fe/B ratio diminishes the magnetic soft behavior.

Wildfires are a rising environmental threat which health impact remains poorly documented, in particular beyond the fire period. This ecological study investigates changes in health conditions before, during, and after two consecutive wildfires that occurred in France´s Gironde district in the summer 2022. Electronic records from the district´s emergency medical communication centre were used to identify calls with respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, and two specific subgroups of those, asthma (all ages and 0-5 years) and cardiac arrest, respectively. Compared to before the fires, respiratory disease cases were fewer during each fire (OR = 0.85, 95% CI: 0.79, 0.90 and OR = 0.62, 95% CI: 0.58, 0.67, respectively), cardiovascular disease cases, more common during the second fire, and asthma cases, higher following the fires (ORall ages= 1.85, 95% CI: 1.56, 2.21 and ORchildren= 3.52, 95% CI: 2.62, 4.80). Asthma cases also rose during the same calendar time in 2021, but to a lesser extent. In sum, except for asthma, emergency calls data in Gironde reveal few significant potentially smoke-related symptoms around fire periods, apart from post-fire asthma. Whether the effects are smoke- or season-related remains to be determined, preferably using additional data sources.

The purpose of this research work was to synthesis bio-derived nanocomposite films by incorporating Na0.5Bi0.5TiO3 (NBT) nanoparticles into Chitosan matrix. The NBT nanoparticles were synthesized using a traditional solid-state technique. Then, through a solution casting approach, flexible composite films were fabricated using Chitosan polymer. The morphology and structural assessments were carried out utilizing scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction and fourier transform infrared technique. The SEM micrographs showed that NBT nanoparticles were randomly distributed and interconnected with other particles, forming interconnected grains with substantial interspaces within the matrix. The spectral response between 300 and 800 nm of the composites is mainly governed by light scattering of NBT particles with diameter sizes in the 100 - 400 nm range and the bandgap of the NBT phase. The dielectric studies demonstrated that the composite films exhibited higher dielectric values compared to the pure Chitosan film. Besides, the increase of NBT amount was found to increase the dielectric values. Additionally, local piezoelectric measurements reveal the expected piezoelectric and ferroelectric behavior for the NBT particles dispersed into the polymer matrix, as locally probed by Piezoresponse Force Microscopy. The studied system bears interest for advanced biocompatible opto- and piezo-electric materials.

Emerging evidence has indicated the involvement of extra-hypothalamic kisspeptin and GnRHR in reproductive function. In this study, we evaluate if maternal exposure to the pesticide chlorpyrifos (CPF) and/or a high-fat diet (HFD) have an impact on the expression of kisspeptin and GnRHR in reproductive organ of offspring’s rats. 16 Pregnant rats are divided into 4 groups, control group (n=4), CPF group (4 rats exposed daily to 1/mg/kg/day), HFD group (4 rats randomly fed a 5,25 kcal/g HFD), co-exposed group (4 rats exposed to CPF and HDF). At postnatal development PND60, males and female offspring were sacrificed. The reproductive organs (ovary and testis) were removed and histological, immunohistological analysis and in silico quantification (software Tissuefax, HistoQuest) was assessed to investigate the impact of different treatment on kisspeptin and GnRHR expression in reproductive organs. The main outcomes of the study showed a significant decrease in rat offspring’s body weight in CPF group from PND30 andPND60 (p&lt;0.05 and p&lt;0.01, respectively). Histological analysis shows a significant increase in atretic follicle and abnormal testis structure with germ cell desquamation at CPF exposed group. The immunodetection quantification of protein shows a significant decrease in GnRHR and kisspeptin in HFD and CPF exposed group, respectively in testis rat offspring. Perinatal exposure to CPF and HFD exposure affect the reproduction function of rat offspring.

Infrastructure and urban network operators, city users and industrialists are faced with complex issues to ensure the sustainability of the service, maintain, operate and develop their urban sys-tems, while integrating environmental, economic and societal impacts and being resilient to un-expected geopolitical and climatic upheavals. Urban Digital Twins (UDTs), i.e., digital twins for smart cities and territories are considered as promising tools that can enable all stakeholders to collaborate across disciplinary silos and foster digital transformation in urban and territorial pro-jects to ensure sustainability, resilience and increased inventiveness. However, a widely acknowledged challenge to address in the application of UDTs is the lack of interoperability. One significant barrier is the difficulty that stakeholders have in understanding the level of complexity hidden behind this challenge, and thus the adoption of an adequate interoperability technique. This paper proposes a conceptual framework, which is unique for understanding the various lev-els of interoperability required in deploying and using the full potentials of UDTs. We show how such a high-level modeling approach supports the symbolic manipulation of UDTs interoperabil-ity notions and requirements, and thus eases the design of appropriate solutions for large-scale in-teroperable UDTs.

Infrastructure and urban network operators, city users and industrialists are faced with complex issues to ensure the sustainability of the service, maintain, operate and develop their urban systems, while integrating environmental, economic and societal impacts and being resilient to unexpected geopolitical and climatic upheavals. Digital Twins are now recognized as the cornerstone of digital transformation. In the field of smart cities, they can enable all stakeholders to collaborate across disciplinary silos and foster digital transformation in urban and territorial projects to ensure sustainability, resilience and increased inventiveness. However, the application of the Digital Twin technology to Smart Cities lacks of standards. This paper proposes a high-level architecture for Digital Twins as an enabler of various levels of interoperation between key stakeholders of a Smart City. Such a technology-agnostic architecture, when implemented for a given Smart City, produces a middleware for large scale interoperability between actors involved in multiple supply chains of this territory.

Modifiable THz spectral shapes are important tools that facilitate the comprehensive study of phonon dynamics in condensed matter systems. The generation of narrow bandwidth THz spectra with tunable center frequency which are suitable THz forms needed to achieve such objectives are currently less studied from the table top laser-induced plasma emitters’ perspective. This experimental research is aimed at developing a robust two-color laser induced plasma set-up comprising of a temporal pulse stretcher and an Optical Parametric Amplifier that generates chirped and wavelength tunable pulses respectively. By focusing and independently controlling the ω and 2ω arms of the chirped pulses resulting after the interaction with a β-BBO crystal, I aim to generate narrow bandwidth THz signal (from plasma) scalable at MV/cm intensity and tunable in a wide THz spectral range, in addition to varying the frequency ratio mix.

The cell’s capacity to integrate and respond to spatial information is a crucial feature of morphogenesis and development. The Planar Cell Polarity (PCP) pathway is a signaling mechanism, widely conserved across metazoans, providing spatial orientation along the plane of an epithelium in morphogenic processes ranging from insect wing patterning to mammalian cochleae. Although the core genes involved in the PCP pathway have been molecularly identified in the 1990s, the PCP signaling mechanism remains controversial. In this article I discuss the main players and previous models of PCP signaling reported in the literature, and propose a new model. According to it PCP is established through an homophobic signal by transmembrane protein Frizzled (Fz): 1) a Fz signal in one cell repeals Fz itself in the adjacent cell, thereby generating symmetry breaking; 2) the instructive PCP signal is conveyed through Fz interaction with atypical cadherin Flamingo (Fmi). More broadly, homophobic signaling may represent a novel mechanism for cell-cell signaling of spatial information through modulation of cell adhesion rather than canonical ligand-receptor binding.

Binarization of degraded documents is an important preprocessing task for various document analysis such as OCR and historical document analysis. Existing studies have applied various convolutional neural network (CNN) models and generative models for document binarization, but they do not show generalized performance for noise that the model has not seen and it suffers from extracting elaborate text strokes. In this paper, to overcome these challenges, we utilize latent diffusion model (LDM), which is known for high-quality image generation model, for the first time in document binarization. By utilizing the iterative diffusion-denoising process in latent space, it shows high-quality cleaned binarized image generation and high generalized performance through using both data distribution and time step while training. Additionally, we apply gated U-Net to the backbone network to preserve text strokes using trainable gating value. Gated convolution can extract elaborate text stroke by allowing the model to focus on text region by combining gating value and feature. Furthermore, we maximize the effectiveness of the proposed model by training it with a combination of LDM loss and pixel-level loss, which is suitable for the model structure. Experiments on H-DIBCO and DIBCO benchmark datasets show that the proposed model outperforms existing methods.

Compared to other 2D materials, MBenes are at an early stage in both experimental and theoretical approaches. However, the wide range of possible 2D structures leads to novel and challenging properties and their consequent applications. From all the possible stoichiometries, we have performed a theoretical study of orthorhombic and hexagonal M2B2 MBenes in the framework of the Density Functional Theory. We have found that both symmetries of Cr2B2, Fe2B2, and Zr2B2 show a metallic behavior and could be grown under certain conditions, as they are demonstrated to be dynamically stable. Moreover, the values of the magnetic moment, in specific ferromagnetic cases exceeding 2.5 μB/M2B2, make them suitable as robust 2D magnets. All our findings represent an important step in the understanding of MBenes and open several windows to future research in fields like energy conversion and storage, sensing, catalysis, biochemistry, or nanotechnology, among others.

Abstract: Arranged patterns obtained by ultrafast laser processing on the surface of Ti/Cu/Ti/Si and Ti/Zr/Ti/Si thin film systems are reported. Two differently designed multilayer thin films, Ti/Cu/Ti/Si and Ti/Zr/Ti/Si, were deposited on silicon by the ion sputtering method. The bioactive surfaces on these systems involve the formation of laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) in each of the laser-written lines of mesh patterns on 5x5 mm areas. The formation of nano- and micro-patterns with an ultra-thin oxide film on the surfaces was used to observe the effects of morphology and proliferation of the MRC-5 cell culture line. To determine whether Ti-based thin films have a toxic effect on living cells, an MTT assay was performed. The relative cytotoxic effect as a percentage of surviving cells showed that there was no difference in cell number between the Ti-based thin films and the control cells. There was also no difference in the viability of the MRC-5 cells, except for the Ti/Cu/Ti/Si system, where there was a slight 10% decrease in cell viability.

ZrO2-YO1.5-TaO2.5(ZYTO) composite ceramic is considered to be the candidate of next generation of thermal barrier coatings as its excellent thermal stability and low thermal conductivity in high temperature, however, the mechanical properties and fracture tougheness of ZYTO system may be the shortcomings compared with the 8YSZ. In this study, ZYTO composite ceramics were successfully prepared by chemical coprecipitation reaction, the microsture of resulting composites were studied as a function of doping of M-YTaO4. Mechanical properties, including the density, porosity, hardness and Young's modulus, are determinate; the toughening mechanism were verified by the crack growth behavior of Vickers indentation test Results suggested that M-YTaO4 refines the fluorite phase grain and strengthens the grain interface in the composite ceramic. The thermal mismatch between the second phase and matrix produces residual stress in the bulk and affects the crack propagation behavior. With the increase of M-YTaO4 doping, the grain coarsening and ferroelastic domains are observed in the experiments. The ferroelastic domains with orthogonal polarization directions near crack tip evidences the ferroelastic toughening mechanism. The competition among these crack behaviors, such as cracks deflection, bridging and bifurcation, dominates the actual fracture toughness of the composite. The best toughening formula is determinate in the two-phase region and the highest fracture toughness is about to 3.1MPa·m1/2. Above all, mechanical properties of ZYTO composite ceramics look potential for thermal barrier coatings materials.

Hyperacusis, i.e., an increased sensitivity to sounds, is described in several neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs), including Fragile X Syndrome (FXS). The mechanisms underlying hyperacusis in FXS are still largely unknown and effective therapies are lacking. Big conductance calci-um-activated potassium (BKCa) channels have been proposed as a therapeutic target to treat several behavioral disturbances in FXS preclinical models, but their role in mediating their au-ditory alterations has not been specifically addressed. Furthermore, studies on the acoustic phe-notypes of FXS animal models have mostly focused on central rather than peripheral auditory pathways. Here we provided an extensive characterization of the peripheral auditory phenotype of the Fmr1-knockout (KO) mouse model of FXS at adulthood. We also assessed whether the acute administration of Chlorzoxazone, a BKCa agonist, could rescue the auditory abnormalities of mutant mice. Fmr1-KO mice both at 3 and 6 months showed a hyperacusis-like startle pheno-type with paradoxically reduced auditory brainstem responses associated with a loss of ribbon synapses in the inner hair cells (IHCs). BKCa expression was markedly reduced in the IHCs of KO mice, but only at 6 months, when Chlorzoxazone rescued mutant auditory dysfunction. Our findings highlight the age-dependent and progressive contribution of peripheral mechanisms and BKCa channels to hyperacusis in FXS, suggesting a novel therapeutic target to treat auditory dysfunction in NDDs.

Visual Sensor Networks (VSNs) have been the focus of numerous studies, emphasizing the quality of the information they generate. The primary goal of these networks is to capture data from an area, extract the pertinent information from the visual scene, and facilitate communication. However, the presence of objects in the study area can impacted the network's efficiency, linking the quality of acquired data directly to the positioning of the cameras. Strategically positioning multiple cameras in a potentially complex area, while ensuring effective communication between nodes, presents a challenging issue in VSNs applications. This paper introduces a specific method to enhance the deployment of visual sensors in indoor environments. The research addresses the theme of multi-objective optimization of VSN deployment, integrating various criteria: maximizing overall visual coverage, maximizing the observation of zones of interest, maximizing observation redundancy of zones of interest and ensuring communication connectivity for data transfers. To tackle this problem, we simulate the observed environment incorporating cameras, obstacles, and considering zones of interest. Camera positioning is performed while considering visual constraints and the scene's characteristics. The quality of positioning is evaluated based on the defined objective functions. Initially, a comparative study is conducted with a state-of-the-art approach, integrating the first three objective functions. Subsequently, we incorporate the fourth objective function to ensure data transfers. The proposed method demonstrates efficient camera network deployments in indoor areas, considering global coverage and observation redundancy. In contrast to the state-of-the-art, these results are achieved in areas with visual obstacles while ensuring communication connectivity between the different cameras.

Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid 4 (TRPV4) channel is a non-selective cation channel, mostly permeable to calcium (Ca2+), which participates to intracellular Ca2+ handling in cardiac cells. It is widely expressed through the body and is activated by a large spectrum of physico-chemical stimuli, conferring it a role in a variety of sensorial and physiological functions. With-in the cardiovascular system, TRPV4 expression was reported in cardiomyocytes, endothelial cells (ECs) and smooth muscle cells (SMCs) where it modulates mitochondrial activity, Ca2+ ho-meostasis, cardiomyocytes electrical activity and contractility, cardiac embryonic development, fibroblast proliferation but also vascular permeability, dilatation and constriction. On the other hand, TRPV4 channels participate in several cardiac pathological processes such as development of cardiac fibrosis, hypertrophy, ischemia-reperfusion injuries, heart failure, myocardial infarc-tion, and arrhythmia. In this manuscript, we provide an overview of TRPV4 channel implica-tions in cardiac physiology and discuss the potential of TRPV4 channel as therapeutic target against cardiovascular diseases.

We investigate the extent to which a two-level quantum system subjected to an external time-dependent drive can be characterized by supervised learning. We apply this approach to the case of bang-bang control and the estimation of the offset and the final distance to a given target state. The estimate is global in the sense that no a priori knowledge is required on the parameters to be determined. Different neural network algorithms are tested on a series of data sets. We point out the limits of the estimation procedure with respect to the properties of the mapping to be interpolated. We discuss the physical relevance of the different results.

Computational neuroscience combines mathematics, computer science models, and neurosciences for theorizing, investigating, and simulating neural systems involved in the development, structure, physiology, and cognitive abilities of the brain. Computational models constitute a major stake in translational neuroscience: the analytical understanding of these models seems fundamental to consider a translation towards clinical applications. Method: We propose a minimal typology of computational models, which allows distinguishing between more realistic models (e.g., mechanistic models) and pragmatic models (e.g., phenomenological models). Result: Understanding the translational aspects of computational models goes far beyond the intrinsic characteristics of models. First, we assume that a computational model is rarely uniquely mechanistic or phenomenological. Idealization seems necessary because of i) the researcher’s perspectives on the phenomena and the purposes of the study (i.e., by the relativity of the model); ii) The complexity of reality across different levels and therefore the nature and number of dimensions required to consider a phenomenon. Especially, the use of models goes far beyond their function, and requires considering external characteristics rooted in path dependence, interdisciplinarity, and pluralism in neurosciences. Conclusion: The unreasonable use of computational models, which are highly complex and subject to a shift in their initial function, could be limited by bringing to light such factors.

We analyze the thermal convection thresholds and linear characteristics of the primary and secondary instabilities for viscoelastic fluids saturating a porous horizontal layer heated from below by a constant flux. Galerkin method is used to solve the eigenvalue problem by taking into account the elasticity of the fluid, the ratio between the viscosity of the solvent and the total viscosity of the fluid and the lateral confinement of the medium. For the primary instability, we found out that depending on the rheological parameters, two types of convective structures may appear when the basic conductive solution loses its stability: stationary long wavelength instability as for Newtonian fluids and oscillatory convection. The effect of the lateral confinement of the porous medium by adiabatic walls is to stabilize the oblique and longitudinal rolls and therefore selects transverse rolls at the onset of convection. In the range of the rheological parameters where stationary long wave instability develops first, we use a parallel flow approximation to determine analytically the velocity and temperature fields associated to the monocellular convective flow. The linear stability analysis of the monocellular flow is performed, and the critical conditions above which the flow becomes unstable are determined. The combined influence of the viscoelastic parameters and the lateral confinement on the characteristics of the secondary instability is quantified. The major new findings concerning the secondary instabilities may be summarized as follows: (i) For concentrated viscoelastic fluids, computations showed that the most amplified mode of convection corresponds to oscillatory transverse rolls which appears via a Hopf bifurcation. This pattern selection is independent of both the fluid elasticity and the lateral confinement of the porous medium; (ii) For diluted viscoelastic fluids, the preferred mode of convection is found to be oscillatory transverse rolls for a very laterally confined medium. Otherwise stationary or oscillatory longitudinal rolls may develop depending on the fluid elasticity. Results also showed the destabilizing effect of the relaxation fluid elasticity and the stabilizing effect of the viscosity ratio for the onset of both primary and secondary instabilities.

This research introduces a pioneering solution to the challenges posed by gastrointestinal tract (GI) cancer in radiation therapy, focusing on the imperative task of precise organ segmentation for minimizing radiation-induced damage. GI imaging has historically used manual demarcation, which is laborious and uncomfortable for patients. We address this by introducing the ResECA-U-Net deep learning model, a novel combination of the UNet and ResNet34 architectures. Furthermore, we further augment its functionality by incorporating the Efficient Channel Attention (ECA-Net) methodology. By utilizing data from the UW-Madison Carbone Cancer Centre, we carefully investigate several image processing techniques designed to capture critical local characteristics. With its foundation in computer vision concepts, the ResECA-U-Net model is excellent at extracting fine details from GI images. Sophisticated metrics such as intersection over union (IoU) and the dice coefficient are used to evaluate performance. Our study's outcomes demonstrate the effectiveness of the suggested method, yielding an impressive 96.27% Dice coefficient and 91.48% IoU. These results highlight the significant contribution that our strategy has made to the advancement of cancer therapy. Beyond its scientific merits, this work has the potential to significantly enhance cancer patients' quality of life and provide better long-term outcomes. Our work is a significant step towards automating and optimizing the segmentation process, which can potentially change how GI cancer is treated completely.

Crack inspection in railway sleepers is crucial for ensuring rail safety and avoiding deadly accidents. Traditional methods for detecting cracks on railway sleepers are very time-consuming and lack efficiency. Therefore nowadays, researchers are paying attention to the vision-based algorithm, especially Deep Learning algorithms. In this work, we adopted the U-net for the first time for detecting cracks on a railway sleeper and proposed a modified U-net architecture named Dense U-net for segmenting the cracks. In the Dense U-net structure, we established several short connections between the encoder and decoder blocks, which enabled the architecture to obtain better pixel information flow. Thus, the model extracted the necessary information in more detail to predict the cracks. We collected images from railway sleepers, processed them in a dataset, and finally trained the model with the images. The model achieved an overall F1-score, precision, Recall, and IoU of 86.5% 88.53%, 84.63%, and 76.31% respectively. We compared our suggested model with the original U-net, and the results demonstrate that our model outperformed the U-net in both quantitative and qualitative results. Moreover, we considered the necessity of crack severity analysis and measured a few parameters of the cracks (e.g., length, maximum width, area, density). The engineers must know the severity of the cracks to have an idea about the most severe locations and take the necessary steps to repair the badly affected sleepers.

Temporal downscaling of gridded geophysical data is essential for improving climate models, weather forecasting, and environmental assessments. However, existing methods often could not accurately capture multi-scale temporal features, affecting their accuracy and reliability. To address this issue, we introduce an Enhanced Residual U-Net architecture for temporal downscaling. The architecture, which incorporates residual blocks, allows for deeper network structures without the risk of overfitting or vanishing gradients, thus capturing more complex temporal dependencies. The U-Net design inherently could capture multi-scale features, making it ideal for simulating various temporal dynamics. Moreover, we implement a flow regularization technique with advection loss to ensure that the model adheres to physical laws governing geophysical fields. Our experimental results across various variables within the ERA5 dataset demonstrate an improvement in downscaling accuracy, outperforming other methods.

Triangular resonators re-shaped with the Sierpinski geometry and U-shaped resonators have been designed, linking them with single-pole-double-through (SPDT) RF MEMS switches to provide frequency tuning for potential applications in the K-Band. Prototypes of band-stop narrowband filters working around 20 GHz and 26 GHz, interesting for RADAR and satellite communications, have been studied in coplanar waveguide (CPW) configuration, and the tuning was obtained by switching between two paths of the devices loaded with different resonators. As a result, dual-band operation or fine-tuning can be obtained depending on the choice of the resonator, acting as a building block. The studied filters belong to the more general group of devices inspired by the metamaterial design.

In this work we introduce an end-to-end multi-modal neural network to segment the Gross Tumor Volume (GTV) from 3D-CBCT’s during radiotherapy. We improve the tumor segmentation by using a U-net which takes additional information such as the tumor mask generated at the planning phase along with the CBCT volume. The mask contains relevant information about the tumor’s location and can guide the model to use this knowledge appropriately to give a better prediction. This technique could become an alternative to produce segmentation masks of GTV in CBCT automatically during radiotherapy as in the traditional RT-pipeline, they are not segmented. We have evaluated our model on a dataset of 82 patients who have undergone radiotherapy. We compare the results of registered target volumes from planning CT as mask seed with 2 different types of multi-modal architectures. Our model shows a DSC of 0.706±0.002 with Late Fusion and 0.702±0.015 with Early Fusion using the GTV Mask. The performance of the two models on this mask is similar, so we perform further experiments with different types of masks which suggest that Late Fusion model produces a better segmentation of the tumor than the Early Fusion model. We also provide an ablation study consisting of a single modality U-net and a metric based on the Planning CT mask registration. It indicates a clear advantage of using our model to produce segmentation for this type of imaging.

This study delves into a unique binary pattern found within the wellknown 3n+1 problem, or Collatz conjecture. Through careful analysis of the steps in the 3n+1 sequence, we have discovered a special binary representation that captures the behavior of all positive integers undergoing this transformation. With this new understanding, we have provided a solid proof confirming the validity of the 3n+1 problem for all positive integers. Our method goes beyond the need for extensive computational confirmation, providing a simple and elegant resolution to a long-standing mathematical mystery.

The Diophantine equation for which p is prime 2^n = p^2 + 7 and n is integers with p > 0, is examined in this work. It is demonstrated by examining the characteristics of the equation that the only solutions meeting these requirements are p = 3 with n = 5 and p = 5 with n = 7. In order to analyze the above equation, it is necessary to look at the properties of primes and how they relate to powers of two. These results advance our knowledge of prime numbers and how they behave in certain mathematical problems.

One of the most important unresolved mysteries in mathematics is the Riemann Hypothesis, which suggests a fundamental connection between the non-trivial zeros of the Riemann zeta function and the distribution of prime numbers. Here, we explore the fascinating union of trigonometric functions, prime numbers, and the Riemann zeta function through an examination of the zeros in the statement ln(sec(π·n log(n))). We demonstrate a strong mathematical connection between these components, providing information on the mysterious properties of prime numbers and their complex relationships to basic mathematical operations. Our thorough investigation adds to the current discussion of the Riemann Hypothesis by offering possible solutions and deepening our comprehension of the intricate relationship between number theory and analytic functions.

The Collatz conjecture is a well-known number theory puzzle that states that every positive integer would eventually converge to the trivial cycle of 1, 2, 1, 2,... when repeatedly exposed to a particular transformation. In this transformation, even numbers are divided in half, odd numbers are tripled, and one is added. In this study, we present a new method for creating a directed graph and using it to display and analyze Collatz sequences. Our technique creates what we call a Collatz directed graph by joining an endless number of simple directed graphs, each of which corresponds to a natural number. We show by careful mathematical analysis that all positive integers are included in this Collatz directed graph. Moreover, we give an evidence that verifies the Collatz conjecture by showing that the sole cycle in this graph is the trivial cycle of 1, 2, 1, 2,... We also prove that there is no sequence that diverges to infinity in this graph. Our results provide insights into the fundamental structure of Collatz sequences and further our knowledge of the Collatz conjecture .

The Collatz conjecture, a longstanding mathematical puzzle, posits that, regardless of the starting integer, iteratively applying a specific formula will eventually lead to the value 1. This paper introduces a novel approach to validate the Collatz conjecture by leveraging the binary representation of generated numbers. Each transition in the sequence is predetermined using the Collatz conjecture formula, yet the path of transitions is revealed to be intricate, involving alternating increases and decreases for each initial value. The study delves into the global flow of the sequence, investigating the behavior of the generated numbers as they progress toward the termination value of 1. The analysis utilizes the concept of probability to shed light on the complex dynamics of the Collatz conjecture. By incorporating probabilistic methods, this research aims to unravel the underlying patterns and tendencies that govern the convergence of the sequence. The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the Collatz conjecture, offering insights into the inherent complexities of its trajectories. This work not only validates the conjecture through binary representation but also provides a probabilistic framework to elucidate the global flow of the sequence, enriching our comprehension of this enduring mathematical mystery.

Cognitive impairment in older adults is associated with poor gait performance, physical decline, falls and poor quality of life. This paper analyzes the feasibility and efficacy of a tango-based in-tervention in older people with cognitive impairment living in nursing homes. A multicenter study, with pre and post-test, was carried out. Intervention attendance, well-being, physical abilities (Short Physical Performance Battery), walking performance, functional capacities (Katz Index), and quality of life (Quality of Life in Alzheimer’s Disease) were assessed. Fifty-four participants (84.9 ± 6.7 years, Mini Mental State Examination 14.5 ± 7.4) completed the protocol. Intervention attendance was 92%, and the mean subjective well-being after each session was 4.5 ± 0.5 (on a five-point scale). Statistically significant improvement was found in the quality of life (p = 0.030). Non statistically significant changes were found in walking performance, physical abilities, or in functional capacities. The study shows feasibility and suggests evidence for the effects of Tango therapy on well-being and quality of life. Further studies are necessary to contrast these findings and to verify the role of Tango interventions as a holistic approach to prevent functional decline in older people with cognitive impairment.

A homogenized, supersaturated Al-Zn-Mg-Zr alloy was processed by severe plastic deformation (SPD) using high-pressure torsion (HPT) technique for different revolutions at room temperature to get ultrafine-grained (UFG) microstructure. The microstructure and mechanical properties of the UFG samples were then studied by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), as well as by tensile and hardness measurements. Emphasis was placed on the effect of shear strain on the evolution of microstructure of the investigated alloy. Experimental results have shown a very interesting evolution of the decomposed microstructure in a wide range of shear strains imposed by HPT. While the global properties, such as the average grain size (~200 nm) and hardness (~2.2 GPa) appeared unchanged, the local microstructure was continuously transformed. After 1 turn of HPT, the decomposed UFG structure contains relatively large precipitates inside grains. In the sample processed by 5 turns in HPT, segregation of Zn atoms into grain boundaries (GBs) can also be observed. After 10 turns, more Zn atoms have segregated into GBs and only smaller size precipitates can be observed inside grains. The intensive segregation of solute atoms into GBs may significantly affect the ductility of the materials, leading to its ultralow-temperature superplasticity. Our findings pave the way for achieving advanced microstructural and mechanical properties in nanostructured metals and alloys by engineering their precipitation and segregation by means of applying different HPT regimes.

Zirconium dioxide (ZrO2) possesses numerous advantages such as high mechanical strength, low friction coefficient, excellent optical properties, and extended lifespan. Consequently, ZrO2 has a broad research foundation and practical significance in functional films and wear-resistant coatings. However, it suffers from brittleness and low ductility when used as a bio-coating material. In this study, a Ta/ZrO2 film was fabricated on Si (100) and titanium alloy substrates using a magnetron sputtering system, with tantalum (Ta) serving solely as a transition layer. Subsequently, Zr and Nb ions were implanted into the film at varying doses but with consistent energy levels. The analysis focused on the film's microstructure, mechanical properties, hydrophilicity, and corrosion resistance. The results demonstrated a significant improvement in the hydrophilicity and corrosion resistance of the ZrO2 film following the implantation of Zr and Nb ions. First-principles calculations based on density functional theory (DFT) principles indicated that, with increasing doping concentrations of Zr and Nb in the ZrO2 model, the stability of the model increased gradually, thereby enhancing its corrosion resistance.

Continuous ultrasonic in-situ monitoring for industrial applications is difficult owing to the high operating temperatures in industrial fields. It is expected that ultrasonic transducers consisting of CaBi4Ti4O15(CBT)/Pb(Zr,Ti)O3(PZT) sol-gel composite could be one solution for ultrasonic nondestructive testing (NDT) above 500 C because no couplant is required and CBT has a high Curie temperature. To verify the high temperature durability, CBT/PZT sol-gel composite films were fabricated on titanium substrates by spray coating, and the CBT/PZT samples were tested in a furnace at various temperatures. Reflected echoes with a high signal-to-noise ratio were observed up to 600 C. A thermal cycle test was conducted from room temperature to 600 C, and no significant deterioration was found after the second thermal cycle. To investigate the long-term high-temperature durability, a CBT/PZT ultrasonic transducer was tested in the furnace at 600 °C for 36 h. Ultrasonic responses were recorded every 3 h, and the sensitivity and signal-to-noise ratio were stable throughout the experiment.

The Colony-Forming Unit (CFU) counting problem remains a complex issue without a universal solution in biomedical and food safety domains. A multitude of sophisticated heuristics and segmentation-driven approaches have been proposed by numerous researchers. Among those, U-Net is the most frequently cited and popular Deep Learning method. The latter approach provides a segmentation output map and requires an additional counting procedure which accounts for unique segmented regions and detected microbial colonies. However, because of pixel-based targets it tends to generate irrelevant artifacts or errant pixels, leading to inaccurate and mixed post-processing results. In response to these challenges, we propose a novel hybrid counting approach, incorporating a multi-loss U-Net reformulation and a post-processing Petri dish localization algorithm. First of all, our unique innovation lies in the multi-loss U-Net reformulation. We introduce an additional loss term at the bottleneck U-Net layer, focusing on delivering an auxiliary signal indicating where to look for distinct CFUs. Second, our novel localization algorithm accurately incorporates an agar plate and its bezel into the CFU counting routines. Finally, our proposition is further enhanced by the integration of a fully automated solution. This comprises a specially designed uniform Petri dish illumination system and a counting web application. The latter application is capable of directly receiving images from the camera, which are subsequently processed, and the segmentation results are sent back to the user. This feature provides an opportunity to correct the CFU counts, offering a feedback loop that contributes to the continued development of the Deep Learning model. Through extensive experimentation, we have found that all probed multi-loss U-Net architectures incorporated in our hybrid approach consistently outperform their single-loss counterparts which utilize exclusively the combination of Tversky and Cross-Entropy training losses at the output U-Net layer. We report further significant improvements by the means of our novel localization algorithm. This reaffirms the effectiveness of our proposed hybrid solution in addressing contemporary challenges of the precise in-vitro CFU counting.

Knowledge about the formation energies of compounds is essential to derive phase diagrams of multi-component phases with respect to elemental reservoirs. The determination of formation energies using common (semi-)local exchange-correlation approximations of density functional theory (DFT) exhibits well-known systematic errors if applied to oxide compounds containing transition metal elements. In this work, we generalize, reevaluate and discuss a set of approaches proposed and widely applied in the literature to correct for errors arising from the over-binding of the O2 molecule and from correlation effects of electrons in localized transition-metal orbitals. The DFT+U method is exemplarily applied to iron oxide compounds, and a procedure is presented to obtain U values, which lead to formation energies and electronic band gaps comparable to experimental values. Using such corrected formation energies, we derive the phase diagrams for LaFeO3, Li5FeO4 and NaFeO2, which are promising materials for energy conversion and storage devices. A scheme is presented to transform the variables of the phase diagrams from the chemical potentials of elemental phases to those of precursor compounds of a solid-state reaction, which represents the experimental synthesis process more appropriately. The discussed workflow of methods can directly be applied to other transition metal oxides.

In this study, the efficiencies of flat-plate and U-tube solar collectors were investigated experimentally when an Al₂O₃ nanofluid was used as a working fluid and compared to those of solar collectors using water. The energy saving and CO₂ and SO₂ generated were calculated and compared to those of solar collectors using water. In addition, based on the experimental results, an economic analysis of the use of solar collectors in various countries was performed. As the concentration of the Al₂O₃ nanofluid increased, the performance of the solar collector improved. The highest efficiency for the solar collectors was shown at the concentration of 1.0 vol% with the nanoparticle size of 20 nm. The maximum efficiencies of the flat-plate and U-tube solar collectors using 1.0 vol%-Al₂O₃ nanofluid with 20-nm nanoparticles was 74.9% and 72.4%, respectively, when the heat loss parameter was zero. The efficiencies of the flat-plate and U-tube solar collectors using Al₂O₃ nanofluid were 14.8% and 10.7 higher, respectively, than those using water. When 50 EA flat-plate solar collectors were operated for one year using Al₂O₃ nanofluid, the coal use, generated CO₂, and generated SO₂ were 189.99 kg, 556.69 kg, and 2.03 kg less than those of solar collectors using water, respectively. In addition, the largest electricity cost reduction was in Germany.

This paper investigates the meaning of a specific intonation contour found in the Northern Australian language Iwaidja called Linear Lengthening Intonation (LLI). Using an experimental field work approach, we analysed approximately 4,000 utterances. We demonstrate that the semantics of LLI is broadly event-quantificational as well as temporally scalar. LLI imposes aspectual selectional restrictions on the verbs it combines with (they must be durative, i.e. cannot describe ‘punctual’, atomic events), and requires the event description effected by said verbs to exceed a contextually-determined relative scalar meaning (e.g., a ‘typical duration’ à la (Tatevosov 2008)). Iwaidja differs from other Northern Australian languages with similar intonation patterns (see e.g. (Bishop 2002: 2002; Simard 2013)), in that it does not seem to have any argument NP-related incremental or event scalar meaning. This suggests that LLI is a decidedly grammatical, language-specific device; not a purely iconic kind of expression (even though it also possibly has an iconic dimension).

Although diet interventions are mostly related to metabolic disorders, nowadays they are used in wide variety of pathologies. From diabetes and obesity to cardiovascular diseases, through cancer or neurological disorders and stroke, nutritional recommendations applied to almost all diseases. Among those disorders, metabolic disturbances and brain function and/or diseases have recently been shown to be linked. Indeed, numerous neurological functions are often associated with perturbations of whole-body energy homeostasis. In this regard, specific diets are used in various neurological conditions such as epilepsy, stroke, or seizure recovery. In addition, Alzheimer’s disease or Autism Spectrum Disorders are also considered as putatively improved by diet intervention. Glycemic index diets are a novel developed indicator expected to anticipate the changes in blood glucose induced by specific foods, and how they can affect various physiological function. Several results provide indications of efficiency of low glycemic index diets in weight management, insulin sensitivity, but also cognitive function, epilepsy treatment, stroke, or neurodegenerative diseases. Overall, studies involving glycemic index could provide new insight in the relationship between energy homeostasis regulation and brain function or related disorders. Therefore, in this review we will summarize main evidences on glycemic index involvement in brain mechanisms of energy homeostasis regulation.

EuAP2 genes are famous for their role in flower development. A legacy of the founding member of this subfamily of transcription factor, whose mutants lacked petals in Arabidopsis. However, studies of other euAP2 genes in several species have accumulated evidence highlighting the diverse roles of euAP2 genes in other aspects of plant development. Here, we emphasize other developmental roles of euAP2 genes in various species and suggest a shift from regarding euAP2 genes as just flowering genes to consider the global role they may be playing in plant development. We hypothesize that their almost universal expression profile and pleiotropic effects of their mutation suggest their involvement in fundamental plant development processes.

Sign Language Recognition (SLR) aims to bridge speech-impaired and general communities by recognizing signs from given videos. Researchers still face challenges developing efficient SLR systems because of the video’s complex background, light illumination, and subject structures. Recently many researchers developed a skeleton-based sign language recognition system to overcome the subject and background variation of hand gesture signs. However, skeleton-based SLR is still under exploration due to the lack of information and annotations on hand key points. More recently, researchers included body and face information with the hand gesture for the SLR, but their performance and efficiency are unsatisfactory. We proposed a Multi-Stream Graph-based Deep Neural Network (SL-GDN) for a skeleton-based SLR system to overcome the problems. The main purpose of the proposed SL-GDN approach is to improve the efficiency and performance of the SLR system with a low computational cost based on the human body pose in the form of 2D landmark locations. In the procedure, firstly, we constructed a skeleton graph based on the selected 27 whole-body key points among 67 key points to solve the inefficiency problems. Then we proposed multi-stream SL-GDN to extract features from the whole-body skeleton graph for four streams. Finally, we concatenated the four different features and applied a classification module to refine the feature and recognize corresponding sign classes. Our data-driven and graph construction method increases the system’s flexibility and brings high generability to adapt various data samples. We used three large-scale benchmark SLR datasets to evaluate the proposed model: WLASL, AUTSL and CSL. The demonstrated performance accuracy table proved the superiority of the proposed model, and we believe this will be considered a great invention in the SLR domain.

Al-6%Mg-Sc-Zr alloys with the total ratio of Sc + Zr = 0.32 wt.% make up the target of this research. The content of scandium and zirconium varied with an increment of 0.02%. The alloys were produced by induction casting. Their ultrafine-grained (UFG) microstructure was formed with Equal Channel Angular Pressing (ECAP). Such cast alloys have a homogeneous macrostructure formed by small equiaxed grains in the central part of the ingot and columnar crystals along the edges of the cross section. After ECAP, the average grain size in the alloy specimens is 0.5–1 µm. The average grain size does not depend on the ratio of Sc and Zr in these alloys. Superplasticity tests were performed at temperatures ranging from 300 to 500 °C and at a strain rate varying between 3.3·10-3 and 3.3·10-1 s-1. UFG Al-6%Mg-0.20%Sc-0.12%Zr and Al-6%Mg-0.18%Sc-0.14%Zr alloys exhibit the highest superplasticity. It was suggested that changes in Sc:Zr ratio affect spatial distribution and composition of the following precipitating particles: Al3Sc, Al3Zr, Al3(ScxZr1-x). An increase in Zr concentration is shown to reduce the susceptibility of UFG alloys to cavitation fracture.