Optical polarizers are essential components for the selection and manipulation of light polarization states in optical systems. Over the past decade, the rapid advancement of photonic technologies and devices has led to the development of a range of novel optical polarizers, opening avenues for many breakthroughs and expanding applications across diverse fields. Particularly, two-dimensional (2D) materials, known for their atomic thin film structures and unique optical properties, have become attractive for implementing optical polarizers with high performance and new features that were not achievable before. This paper reviews recent progress in 2D-material-based optical polarizers. First, an overview of key properties of various 2D materials for realizing optical polarizers is provided. Next, the state-of-the-art optical polarizers based on 2D materials, which are categorized into spatial-light devices, fiber devices, and integrated waveguide devices, are reviewed and compared. Finally, we discuss the current challenges of this field as well as the exciting opportunities for future technological advances.

The use of endophytic microbes is increasing in commercial agriculture. This review will describe the endophyte-plant relationship and the fungi and bacteria involved. Their abilities to alleviate biotic (diseases and pests) and abiotic stresses (drought, salt and flooding), remediate pollution and increase photosynthetic capabilities will be described. Their mechanisms of action will be elucidated. These frequently result in increased plant yields. Finally, methods and practices for formulation and commercial use will be described.

Concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) technology offers an alternative to conventional photovoltaic systems, focusing on the concentration of solar radiation through the optics of the system onto smaller and more efficient solar cells. However, the surface on which the solar beam is incident must remain oriented towards the position of the sun, which requires the use of large and heavy external elements known as solar trackers. In addition to their size, these elements must be as accurate as possible to avoid misalignment. To avoid the need of these solar trackers, the concept of tracking-integrated concentrating systems has been developed. This technology has been researched to make CPV systems accessible in places where conventional systems are not viable, such as building roofs or agrivoltaic fields. This review presents a detailed classification of the existing designs in the literature and providing an overview of this type of system. By eliminating the need for external solar trackers, tracking-integrated CPV systems offer a promising solution to increase the adoption of this technology. Therefore, it is expected that these systems will be a viable and effective option for solar power generation.

Industry 4.0 or the Fourth Industrial Revolution is driven by innovative technologies that have profound effects on both production systems and business models. This revolution is characterized by the addition of disruptive technologies and methods. These aspects of Industry 4.0 have a significant impact on marketing and have led to an evolution to ensure that marketing activities align with technological advancements and address consumers' current needs. The purpose of this paper is to formulate and discuss future research avenues for marketing considering the changes brought by Industry 4.0. The approach taken in the paper is to review the relevant literature and focus on the key themes most important for future research on industry 4.0 and marketing. Therefore, a systematic literature review was conducted based on SCOPUS indexing online database of scientific articles, the most important peer-reviewed peer in the academic world. The paper finds that there are a number of research avenues for marketing researchers to conduct investigations on, but the most important areas are five marketing principles in Industry 4.0: cooperation, conversation, co-creation, cognitivity, and connectivity.

Microfluidic devices which integrate both rapid mixing and liquid jetting for sample delivery are an emerging solution for studying molecular dynamics via X-ray diffraction. Here we use finite element modelling to investigate the efficiency and time-resolution achievable using microfluidic mixers within the parameter range required for producing stable liquid jets. Three-dimensional simulations, validated by experimental data, are used to determine the velocity and concentration distribution within these devices. The results show that by adopting a serpentine geometry, it is possible to induce chaotic mixing, which effectively reduces the time required to achieve a homogeneous mixture for sample delivery. Further, we investigate the effect of flow rate and the mixer microchannel size on the mixing efficiency and minimum time required for complete mixing of the two solutions whilst maintaining a stable jet. In general, we find that the smaller the cross-sectional area of the mixer microchannel, the shorter the time needed to achieve homogeneous mixing for a given flow rate. The results of these simulations will form the basis for optimised designs enabling the study of molecular dynamics occurring on millisecond timescales using integrated mix-and-inject microfluidic devices.

Only now, four decades after passive houses were designed in the US and built in Canada, the authors are able to discuss the next generation of new and retrofitted buildings in the same way. This paper presents a universal system for different types of buildings and climates that includes construction experience and is reinforcing multi-disciplinary synergies. A next generation of technology uses adaptable indoor climate, integrates HVAC and building structure; applies field monitoring of energy and indoor environment and develops a performance model that is based on artificial neutral network. This approach, includes: 1. The self-learning ANN as a part of the building management system, 2. This management system guides energy optimization in a post-construction stage 3. A two-stage construction process for new and retrofits. The first stage prescribes investment level and optimizes performance; opposite in the second stage. This paper highlights that some elements of the proposed methodology have already been applied in the practice. It also underlines that this integrated multi-disciplinary system can be applied with a different combination of technological elements.

The protection of electronics against environmental influences and mechanical loads is important for integration of conventional electronics in textile conductive tapes. For this purpose, the sensors on the tapes are molded with plastic locally. This process step is recognized in the injection molding process. The molding compound is then later selected depending on: The field of application, the parameters of the manufacturing process and the textile tape properties. We have designed a mould for liquid silicone (LSR) as well as for the textile and electronic insertions. The cavities are sealed by a local compression of the textile and the two inserts are positioned with position pins representing the main aspect of the mould design. The sampling tool and the process parameter optimization are mainly based on the material properties of the silicone and the mechanical sensitivity of the inserts. To reduce the deformation of the circuit boards by the melt front and ensuring the functionality of the electronics a low-pressure process is used.

This study's main target was to analyze and design rectangular edges supported two ways solid slabs by using ES EN 1992-1-1:2015. Slab design is often carried out either manually or with the use of design and analytic software. The researcher sees that some software cannot accept some countries' standard codes. For example, currently in Ethiopia analysis and design of two-way solid slab is done using readily available Excel sheet template. But working with this might have many problems, firstly the structure that is already analyzed by SAP or SAFE or any other international software application that uses international codes but which cannot design structure using ES EN 1992; for instant euro codes and designed by excel sheet can create failure and uneconomical analysis and design result. In this paper, the slab is designed and analyzed based on the chosen concrete grade, chosen reinforcement bar diameter, chosen steel grade for design and analysis of slabs calculations like load, moment, shear, and deflection checking using the moment coefficient method for analysis and design and Microsoft Visual Basic 2010 for coding. All input values are given by the International Standard units and are also used to represent output values. Using manual calculations delays time and mostly the result is not correct. But using this Computer program can increase computation accuracy and save time. The procedure the researcher followed is, first the manual calculation has been done and then SADSE2021 has been done. The result is that both are 99.9% identical, and the disadvantage of this method is that it cannot be used to determine the detailed drawing.

Ammonia-oxidizing microorganism communities are abundant and functionally efficacious in nitrification. However, ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) groups complicate this process in subtropical streams. This study investigates the abundance of ammonia-oxidizing communities south of the Dabie Mountains, China, using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Clone libraries were utilized to analyze the abundance and microbial structures of AOA and AOB in sediments. Such analysis may provide strong evidence reflecting the links within the environment. The results show that AOB had a lower abundance of copies of the ammonia-oxidizing gene (amoA) than AOA. Interestingly, the AOA and AOB community compositions were correlated with ecological characteristics. The dissolved oxygen (DO) and oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) had significant positive correlations, whereas the phosphorus within the structure had a negative correlation with the abundance of both groups. Our study shows that it might adopt some species related to Nitrosotalea clusters that can resist comparably higher pH (toward pH 6.5). Together, these results imply that the physiological adaptation of microbial guilds to environmental pressures in ammonia-oxidizing archaea might allow them to have a more substantial function of ammonia-oxidizing communities in natural habitats.

A rare genetic disorder caused by col18.a1 mutations, inherited mostly in autosomal recessive and rarely in autosomal dominant pattern, giving rise to ocular abnormalities and other associated disorders, the condition is referred to as Knobloch syndrome. This paper overviews the anterior and posterior ocular symptoms in Knobloch patients, thus demonstrating the major findings in Knobloch cases including the mutational analysis which discusses the proteins involved and exon number on which mutations are detected. Animal modeling done by knocking out col18.a1 has also been discussed to determine the functions of this gene which have been identified based on anomalies found in knock-out mice.

The effects of post-treatment temperature-based methods on 1D single PLA filaments after FFF have been studied. This lets to decouple the variables related to the 3D structure (layer height, raster angle, infill density, and others) from the variables solely related to the material (molecular weight, molecular orientation, crystallinity, and others). PLA 1D filaments have been aged at 20, 39, 42, 51, 65, 75 and 80 ºC in a water-bath-inspired process in which the hydrolytic degradation of the PLA has been minimised for the ageing temperatures of interest. The evolution of the thermal and mechanical properties of the PLA filaments at different temperatures was recorded. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was used to evaluate thermal and physical properties, in which the glass transition, enthalpic relaxation, crystallisation and melting reactions were analysed. Tensile tests were performed to evaluate the tensile strength and elastic modulus. The flow-induced molecular orientation, the degradation, the logistic fitting and the so-called summer effect –stabilisation of properties at higher temperatures– are discussed for assessing the safeness of accelerating ageing.

Fungal infections impact the lives of at least 12 million people every year, killing over 1.5 million. Wide-spread use of fungicides and prophylactic antifungal therapy have driven resistance in many serious fungal pathogens, and there is an urgent need to expand the current antifungal ar-senal. Recent research has focused on improving azoles, our most successful class of antifungals, by looking for synergistic interactions with secondary compounds. Synergists can co-operate with azoles by targeting steps in related pathways, or they may act on mechanisms related to re-sistance like active efflux or on totally disparate pathways or processes. A variety of sources of potential synergists have been explored, including pre-existing antimicrobials, pharmaceuticals approved for other uses, bioactive natural compounds and phytochemicals, and novel synthetic compounds. Synergy can successfully widen the antifungal spectrum, decrease inhibitory dosag-es, reduce toxicity, and prevent the development of resistance. This review highlights the diversity of mechanisms that have been exploited for the purposes of azole synergy and demonstrates that synergy remains a promising approach for meeting the urgent need for novel antifungal strate-gies.

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.

In this study, a novel absorbable hemostatic agent was developed using carrageenan (CRG) as a natural polymer and cerium oxide nanoparticles (CeO2 NPs).  CRG-CeO2-0.5 and CRG-CeO2-1 composites were prepared by compositing CRG and CeO2 at a weight ratio of 200:1 and 100:1, respectively. Physio-chemical and structural properties of these compounds were studied and compared with pristine CRG. Upon incorporation of CeO2 nanoparticles into the CRG matrix, significant reductions in hydrogel degradation were observed. In addition, it was noted that CRG-CeO2 exhibited better antibacterial and hemostatic properties than CRG hydrogel without CeO2.The biocompatibility of the materials was tested using the NIH 3T3 cell line and all samples were found to be nontoxic. Particularly, CRG-CeO2-1 demonstrated superior hemostatic effects, biocompatibility, and a lower degradation rate since more CeO2 Nps were present in the CRG matrix. Therefore, CRG-CeO2-1 has the potential to be used as a hemostatic agent and wound dressing.

Abstract: The study focuses on how socio-economic and demographic indicators affect fertilization sustainability (excessive amount of fertilization). Principally we aim to examine the significance magnitude of the effects of three socio-demographic variables such as traditional way of fertilization, rental land farming, and farmers’ younger age on over-fertilization in Bangladesh and other developing countries. In 1960s, Bangladesh state authority launched a campaign ‘Grow more Food’ to feed huge numbers of population and thus the farmers are provided chemical fertilizers and pesticides at a subsidized low price. Farmers began to use huge amount of fertilizers for gaining high yields and continued it to present causing environmental woes a lot. We interview (face-to-face, focus group discussion, and phone interview) 210 Bangladesh farmers in 2016 by semi-structured questionnaire. Data has been analyzed using General Linear Model (GLM) in Univariate Analysis of Variance. The study found the effect of traditional way of fertilization on excessive amount of fertilization is strongly significant at 1% level. Apart from, rental land farming and farmers’ younger age have a significant influence on over- fertilization; though their significance level (5% and 10% respectively) is quasi-strong. Policy makers can be able to formulate fertilizer policy on the basis of these findings.

Pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide receptor 1 (PAC1-R) has a higher affinity for pituitary adenylate cyclase- activating polypeptide (PACAP) than for vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP). PACAP exerts its neuroprotective effects through PAC1-R. PAC1-R has become a target for drug development, and we targeted PAC1-R to screen small positive allosteric modulator 1 (SPAM1). SPAM1 has a neuroprotective effects, and in the D-galactose (D-gal) mouse model, SPAM1 improved the structure of the hippocampal dentate gyrus and restored the number of neurons. Compared with D-gal model mice, SPAM1 treatment upregulated the expression of Sirtuin 6 (SIRT6) and Lamin B1, and downregulated the expression of YinYang 1 (YY1) and p16. Consistent with this, the same results were obtained in senescent RGC-5 cells. Meanwhile, SPAM1 was also found to up-regulate SIRT6 and down-regulate YY1 expression in normal RGC-5 cells. Then, we further explored the mechanism of SPAM1 neuroprotection by whole transcriptome sequencing and proteomic analysis, and found that SPAM is involved in the longevity regulating pathway, and confirmed the up-regulation of neurofilament light polypeptide and neurofilament medium polypeptide by western blot, thus laying a pharmacological foundation for SPAM1 as a therapeutic agent for neurodegenerative diseases. polypeptide and neurofilament medium polypeptide. Thus, it lays a pharmacological foundation for SPAM1 as a therapeutic drug for neurodegenerative diseases.

Rapid climate change requires more powerful and precise modeling methods to forecast future climate variability. The GSTARIMA Model is efficient, combining space-time analysis with the Autoregressive Moving Average (ARIMA) Model. The integration of heteroscedasticity error and the Kriging method can strengthen the Model's ability to handle the problem of non-constant error variance in the GSTARIMA Model and forecast at unobserved locations of climate observations. This paper's Systematics Literature Review (SLR) is presented comprehensively with the principal aim of developing a thorough understanding of applying the GSTARIMA Model with heteroskedasticity error and the Kriging Method in climate forecasting following the Data Analytics Lifecycle methodology. The Systematic Literature Review (SLR) process consists of three main stages. We sourced the articles from databases such as Scopus, Dimensions, and EBSCO-Host The subsequent stage involved conducting a comprehensive literature review using the PRISMA method to ensure rigor and depth. Additionally, we performed bibliometric analysis to enhance rigor. Lastly, we conducted a gap analysis session to scrutinize existing research on the GSTARIMA Model and identify new opportunities. This literature review reveals that integrating GSTARIMA Model with heteroscedasticity errors and the Kriging method is suitable for climate forecasting. This research inspires researchers to contribute to the improvement and refinement of the Model, making it a more potent and valuable tool in climate forecasting.

Background: While the clinical factors of the post-COVID-19 condition (PCC) are becoming clearer, the economic implications remain uncertain, posing a challenge to healthcare professionals in terms of understanding and managing this emerging phenomenon. This article aims to investigate the demographic and clinical characteristics of PCC patients and quantify the economic impact of their healthcare resource utilisation. Methods: A retrospective and case-control observational study was conducted, comparing the case group of PCC population before and after diagnosis with a control group. Demographic and clinical variables were analysed with the objective of describing the population. Economic analysis was performed to evaluate the resource costs in procedures and primary, secondary (both outpatient and inpatient) and emergency care. Findings: PCC patients (N=341) exhibited older age and elevated cardiovascular risk factors compared to controls (N=49,078). There were differences in the socio-economic distribution between male and female patients in the PCC patients. Hypertension and diabetes mellitus type 2 were the most common chronic diseases observed among the case patients. Economic analysis revealed that PCC patients were approximately four times as costly as control patients, with increased utilisation of healthcare resources. However, post-diagnosis PCC patients showed a reduction in costs, primarily driven by decreased primary care visits and hospitalisations. Conclusion: Coordinated care management for PCC patients is associated with reduced costs and improved healthcare resource utilisation. Further research is warranted to investigate long-term health outcomes and establish causal relationships between COVID-19 sequelae and healthcare resource utilisation.

Abstract Sickle cell anaemia (SCD) is a life-threatening haematological disorder which is predominant in sub-Saharan Africa and is triggered by a genetic mutation of the β-chain haemoglobin gene resulting in the substitution of glutamic acid with valine. This mutation leads to the production of an abnormal haemoglobin molecule called haemoglobin S (HbS). When deoxygenated, haemoglobin S (HbS) polymerizes and results in a sickle-shaped red blood cell which is rigid and has a significantly shortened life span. Various reports have shown a strong link between oxidative stress, inflammation, the immune response, and the pathogenesis of sickle cell disease. The consequence of these processes lead to the development of vasculopathy (disease of the blood vessels) and several other complications. The role of the immune system, particularly the innate immune system, in the pathogenesis of SCD has become increasingly clear in recent years of research, However, little is known about the roles of the adaptive immune system in this disease. This review examines the interaction between the immune system, inflammation, oxidative stress, blood transfusion, and their effects on the pathogenesis of sickle cell anaemia

Optical properties of the cornea are responsible for correct vision, ultrastructure allows optical transparency and biomechanical properties governs the shape, elasticity or stiffness of the cor-nea affecting ocular integrity and intraocular pressure. Therefore, optical aberrations, corneal transparency, structure and biomechanics play a fundamental role in the optical quality of hu-man vision, ocular health and refractive surgery outcomes. However, the convergence of those properties is not yet reported at macroscopic scale within the hierarchical structure of the cornea. This work explores the relationships between biomechanics, structure and optical properties (corneal aberrations and optical density) at macrostructural level of the cornea through dual Placido-Scheimpflug imaging and air-puff tonometry systems in a healthy young adult popula-tion. Results showed convergence between optical transparency, corneal macrostructure and biomechanics.

This paper reports aligned activities to promote energy and resource-efficient construction practice in Vietnam. First, the governance framework is introduced, including government decrees and technical standards. Then, a laboratory with building physics measurement technology is designed and partly set up at the local partner Vietnam Institute for Building Materials (VIBM), which can be used to determine the essential characteristic values required for the implementation of energy standards. The basis for the prioritization of the characteristic values are the requirements of the National technical regulation on energy efficient buildings of Vietnam – QCVN09:2017/BXD. Furthermore, basic characteristic values from international standards are described, which can also be used for calculations to optimize the energy consumption of buildings. In order to be able to carry out transient hygrothermal computer simulations, special characteristic values were also included. These are particularly useful for the research and development of new building materials and the evaluation of entire buildings in terms of thermal and moisture protection In order to communicate the material properties to the market and enable informed decision making by the stakeholders, a labeling system has been developed. Thereby, the practical means for implementing governance instruments are provided, and the related technical applications are supported.

Species richness is a widely used measure for assessing the diversity of a particular area. However, observed richness often underestimates the true richness due to resource limitations, particularly in the small-sized sample or highly heterogeneous assemblage. Estimating species richness in a large-scale region typically involves an integrated data set consisting of subsamples collected independently from different subregions. However, the pooled sample of integrated data is no longer a random sample from the entire region, and the use of different sampling schemes results in variations in data formats. Consequently, employing a single sampling distribution to model the pooled sample becomes impractical, rendering existing richness estimators inadequate. This study theoretically explains the applicability of Chao's lower bound estimators in estimating species richness for large-scale areas using the pooled sample. Additionally, a new nonparametric estimator is introduced, which adjusts the bias of Chao's lower bound estimator by leveraging the Good-Turing frequency formula. This proposed estimator only utilizes the pooled sample's singleton, doubleton, and tripleton richness. Simulated data sets across various models are employed to demonstrate the statistical performance of the estimator, showcasing its ability to reduce bias and provide accurate 95% confidence intervals. Real data sets are also utilized to illustrate the practical application of the proposed approach.

We propose versatile integrated polarizers based on geometric metasurfaces. Metasurface polarizer consists of L-shaped hole array etched on a silver film and it can generate simultaneously several polarization states including the linear polarization, circular polarization, elliptical polarization, or even hybrid polarization. Meanwhile, the combination of output polarization states changes with the illumination polarization type. The theoretical analysis provides the detail explanation for the generation of the integrated polarization states. The well-designed metasurface polarizers may generate more complex polarization modes including vector beams and vector vortex beams. The theoretical and simulated results confirm the polarization performance of the proposed integrated metasurface polarizers. The compact design of metasurface polarizers and the controllable generation of versatile polarization combinations are benefit to the applications of polarization light in optical imaging, biomedical sensing and material processing.

Spatial planners are nowadays strongly interested in the benefits of greenspace for the health of urban residents. However, concrete and context-specific guidance on effective greening strategies is still lacking. We present a novel, model-based approach to support the development of such strategies. The approach is quantitative and spatially-explicit, and accounts for multiple health benefits as well as burdens. In this study, we applied the approach to the city of Maastricht (The Netherlands), and conducted an integrated, city-scale assessment of the health benefits and burdens of four urban greenspace designs. These included: ‘No greenspace’, ‘Current greenspace’, ‘Green parking lots and squares’, and ‘Optimized greenspace locations’. For each greenspace design, indicator values were calculated for five health determinants: heat stress, air pollution, perceived unsafety, unattractive views, and tick-bite risk. To assess the health contribution of urban greenspace in a given design, these indicator values were compared with the values in the ‘No greenspace’ design. The study produced clear, quantitative conclusions about the health benefits and burdens of the urban greenspace designs for the case of Maastricht, but also generated novel, more general insights relevant to planning of urban greenspace for health. These insights concern the importance of translating health policy objectives into specific target values or thresholds, and the importance of ‘smart’ choices in greenspace type and location that can effectively reduce trade-offs between health benefits and burdens. Priorities for future research, addressing limitations of the presented approach, concern a further expansion of the range of health benefits and burdens covered by the model, and the development of a common metric for the entire range of health benefits and burdens allowing optimization of greenspace design to maximize its overall net health benefit.

Neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, are caused by a combination of multiple events that damage neuronal function. A well-characterized biomarker of neurodegeneration is proteinaceous aggregates accumulation in the brain. However, the gradually worsening symptoms of neurodegenerative diseases are unlikely to be solely due to the result of a mutation in a single gene, but rather a multi-step process involving epigenetic changes. Multiple epigenetic studies have revealed that modification of histones accompanied by both the local and global remodeling of the chromatin structure and alternations in transcriptional patterns are closely associated with the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases. Unlike DNA mutations, epigenetic alterations are reversible, and therefore raise the possibilities for therapeutic intervention including dietary modifications. Additionally, reactive oxygen species may contribute to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. Given that the antioxidant properties of plant-derived phytochemicals are likely to exhibit pleiotropic effects against ROS-mediated epigenetic alternation, dietary intervention may be promising for the management of neurodegeneration in these diseases. In this review, the state-of-the-art applications using single-cell multi-modal omics approaches including genetics, and epigenetics, and dietary approaches for the identification of novel biomarkers and therapeutic approaches for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases are discussed.

The main objective of this work is to study the effects of carbon nanotubes (CNT) on the strength and electrical properties of cement mortar. Molecular dynamic simulations (MDS) were carried out for the mechanical and electrical properties of the cementitious composite and the associated mechanisms. To model the atomic structure of the Calcium-Silicate-Hydrates (C-S-H) gel, tobermorite 11Å was chosen. Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) embedded in tobermorite structure were tested numerically. In particular, the effect of the concentration of CNT in cement paste was studied. An innovative experiment of electrical characterization of a cementitious composite of carbon nanotubes has been developed.

This paper mainly used database technology, machine learning, thermodynamic calculation, experimental verification, etc., on integrated computational materials engineering. The interaction between different alloying elements and the strengthening effect of precipitated phases are investigated mainly for martensitic ageing steels. Modelling and parameter optimization were performed by machine learning, and the highest prediction accuracy was 98.58%. Investigated the influence of composition fluctuation on performance and correlation tests to analyze the influence of elements from multiple perspectives. Furthermore, screen out the three-component composition process parameters with composition and performance with high contrast. Thermodynamic calculations studied the effect of alloying element content on the nano-precipitation phase, Laves phase, and austenite in the material. The heat treatment process parameters of the new steel grade were also developed based on the phase diagram. A new type of martensitic ageing steel was prepared by selected vacuum arc melting. The sample with the highest overall mechanical properties had a yield strength of 1887 MPa, a tensile strength of 1907 MPa, and a hardness of 58 HRC. The sample with the highest plasticity had an elongation of 7.8%. The machine learning process for the accelerated design of new ultra-high tensile steels was found to be generalizable and reliable.

Effective household and individual disaster preparedness can minimize physical harm and property damage during catastrophic events. To assess the risk and vulnerability of affected areas, it is crucial for relief agencies to understand the level of public preparedness. Traditionally, government agencies have employed nationwide random telephone surveys to gauge the public’s attitudes and actions towards disaster preparedness. However, these surveys may lack generalizability in certain affected locations due to low response rates or areas not covered by the survey. To address this issue and enhance the comprehensiveness of disaster preparedness assessments, we develop a framework that seamlessly integrates machine learning and simulation. Our approach leverages machine learning algorithms to establish relationships between public attitudes towards disaster preparedness and demographic characteristics. Using Monte Carlo simulation, we generate datasets that incorporate demographic information of the affected location based on government-provided demographic distribution data. The generated dataset is then input into the machine learning model to predict the disaster preparedness attitudes of the affected population. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our framework by applying it to Miami-Dade County, where it accurately predicts the level of disaster preparedness. With this innovative approach, relief agencies can have a clearer and more comprehensive understanding of public disaster preparedness.

The energy transition towards renewable and more decentral power production triggers the need for grid and storage expansion on all voltage levels. Today's power system planning focuses on certain voltage levels or spatial resolutions. In this work we present an open source software tool eGo which is able to optimize grid and storage expansion throughout all voltage levels in a developed top-down approach. System costs are minimized by applying a linear optimal power flow considering the grid infrastructure of the extra-high and high-voltage (380 to 110 kV) level. Hence, the common differentiation of transmission and distribution grid is partly dissolved, integrating the high-voltage level into the optimization problem. Consecutively, optimized curtailment and storage units are allocated in the medium voltage grid in order to lower medium and low voltage grid expansion needs, that are consequently determined. Here, heuristic optimization methods using the non-linear power flow were developed. Applying the tool on future scenarios we derived cost-efficient grid and storage expansion for all voltage levels in Germany. Due to the integrated approach storage expansion and curtailment can significantly lower grid expansion costs in medium and low voltage grids and at the same time serve the optimal functioning of the overall system. Nevertheless, the cost-reducing effect for the whole of Germany was marginal. Instead, the consideration of realistic, spatially differentiated time series lead to substantial overall savings.

Many research work has demonstrated that taken the Combined Cooling Heating and Power system (CCHP) as the core equipment, the integrated energy system (IES) can bring obvious benefit to energy efficiency, CO2 emission reduction and operation economy in urban areas. Compared with isolated IES, integrated energy micro-grid (IEMG) which is formed by connecting multiple regions IES together, through distribution and thermal network, can further improve the reliability, flexibility, cleanliness and economy of regional energy supply. Based on the existing IES model, this paper describes the basic structure of IEMG and built a IEMG planning model. The planning based on the mixed integer linear programming, and economically construction planning scheme are calculated by using known electricity, heating and cooling loads information and the given multiple equipment selection schemes. At last, the model is validated by a case study. The results show that the application of IEMG can effectively improve the economy of regional energy supply.

Background: To compare the clinical efficacy of Japas osteotomy of the middle foot and first metatarsal sequence osteotomy in treating children with cavovarus foot deformity. Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on the clinical effect of cavovarus foot surgery from January 2012 to January 2019. Thirty light and medium cavovarus foot cases underwent osteotomy based on soft tissue release. Among them, 16 cases of 22 feet underwent first metatarsal sequence osteotomy, and 14 cases of 21 feet underwent middle foot Japas osteotomy. Ankle-posterior foot (Wicart) scoring system was used to evaluate the good and good rates of the two surgical methods. X-ray films were taken before and after the last follow-up in a standing weight-bearing position, and Meary Angle, Hibb Angle, and Pitch Angle were measured to compare the clinical efficacy of the two surgical methods in correcting the light and medium-cavovarus foot deformity.Results: (1) All patients were followed up for an average of 30 months. There was no significant difference in Meary, Hibb, and Pitch Angle between first metatarsal osteotomy and middle foot Japas osteotomy before surgery, indicating that the severity of malformation was similar between the two groups. (2) The Meary, Hibb, and Pitch Angle of the last follow-up were compared between the two groups (P>0.05), which showed no statistical significance, indicating that the two surgical methods had similar effects on cavovarus deformity correction. (3) At the most recent follow-up, there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups regarding the percentage of patients who achieved an excellent or good Wicart score; for the first metatarsal osteotomy group, the rate was 87%, and for the Japas osteotomy group was 90%; the Fisher test p>0.05 indicates that the postoperative excellent and good rates of the two treatments are comparable.II (4) Comparison of operation time and intraoperative blood loss between the two groups, P<0.05, showed statistically significant differences, indicating that the first metatarsal osteotomy had obvious advantages over Japas osteotomy operation time and intraoperative blood loss. Conclusions: There is no significant difference in postoperative efficacy between first metatarsal osteotomy and Japas osteotomy for light and medium-cavovarus with the apex of the deformity located at the medial cuneus or navicular cuneiform joint. However, the intraoperative blood loss and operative time of first metatarsal osteotomy are superior to Japas osteotomy of the middle foot, and the trauma to children is less. Therefore, the first metatarsal osteotomy can be considered a surgical procedure.

Background: Chronic non-specific low back pain (CNSLBP) is defined as back pain that lasts longer than 12 weeks. Objectives: To investigate the efficacy of manual therapy (MT) program combined with Capacitive and Resistive Electric Transfer (TECAR) therapy in individuals with CNSLBP. Method: Sixty adults with CNSLBP were randomly equally divided into three groups. The first group followed an MT protocol in the lumbar region (MT group), the second group followed the same MT protocol combined with TECAR therapy (MT + TECAR group) using a conventional capacitive electrode as well as a special resistive electrode bracelet and the third group (Control group) received no treatment. Both intervention programs included six treatments over two weeks. Pain in the last 24 hours with the Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS), functional ability with the Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMDQ), Pressure Pain Threshold (PPT) in the lumbar region with pressure algometry, and mobility of the lumbo-pelvic region through fingertip-to-floor distance (FFD) test were evaluated before and after the intervention period with a one-month follow-up. Analysis of variance with repeated measures was applied. Results: In the NPRS score, both intervention groups showed statistically significant differences compared to the control group both in the second week as well as in the one-month follow-up (p < .001). Between-groups differences were also noticed between the two intervention groups in the second week (p < .05). Differences in the RMDQ score in the second week and on the one-month follow-up were detected between the intervention groups and the control group (p < .001), while differences between the two intervention groups were only detected in the one-month follow-up (p < .001). Regarding the PPT values, differences were found mainly between the MT + TECAR and the control group and between the MT + TECAR and the MT group (p < .05), with the MT + TECAR group in most cases showing the greatest improvement compared to the other two groups, which remained statistically significant in the one-month follow-up (p < .05). Finally, both intervention groups improved the mobility of the lumbo-pelvic region in both time points compared to the control group without, however, statistically significant differences between them (p> .05). Conclusion: The application of an MT protocol with TECAR therapy appeared more effective than conventional MT as well as compared to the control group in reducing pain and disability and improving PPT in individuals with CNSLBP. No further improvement was noted in mobility of the lumbo-pelvic region by adding TECAR to the MT intervention.

Abstract: The contribution of breakfast to diet quality (DQ) can inform future dietary guidelines. This study examined breakfasts that were associated with highest-quality diets. Dietary data came from the first reported day of the National Health and Examination Survey (NHANES) 2011-2014 (n=14,488). DQ measures were the Nutrient Rich Foods Index (NRF9.3) and the USDA Healthy Eating Index 2015 (HEI 2015). Analyses of breakfast intakes were conducted by NRF9.3 tertiles and by age and socioeconomic groups. Four out of 5 NHANES participants ate breakfast. Breakfast provided 19-22% of dietary energy depending on age. Breakfast intakes of complex carbohydrates and total sugars were higher and intakes of protein and fats were lower relative to energy intakes. Breakfast provided more that 20% of daily intakes of B vitamins, vitamins A and D, folate, calcium, iron, potassium and magnesium. Eating breakfast was associated with higher NRF9.3d scores. Breakfasts associated with top tertile of NRF9.3d had more carbohydrates and less added sugars and fats. Such breakfasts had more fruit and juices, more whole grains, more milk and yogurt and less meat and eggs. Breakfast patterns that favored fruit, whole grains, and dairy were associated with healthiest diets.

Fibroepithelial lesions (FL) of the breast, in particular Phyllodes tumors (PT) and fibroadenomas, pose a significant diagnostic challenge. There are no generally accepted criteria that distinguish benign, borderline, malignant PT, and FA. Combined genome-wide DNA methylation and copy number variant (CNV) profiling is an emerging strategy to classify tumors. We compiled a series of patient-derived archival biopsy specimens reflecting the FL spectrum and histological mimickers including clinical follow-up data. DNA methylation and CNVs were determined by well-established microarrays. Comparison of the patterns with a pan-cancer dataset assembled from public resources including "The Cancer Genome Atlas" (TCGA) and "Gene Expression Omnibus" (GEO) suggests that FLs form a methylation class distinct from both control breast tissue as well as common breast cancers. Complex CNVs were enriched in clinically aggressive FLs. Subsequent fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis detected respective aberrations in the neoplastic mesenchymal component of FLs only, confirming that the epithelial component is non-neoplastic. Of note, our approach could lead to the elimination of the diagnostically problematic category of borderline PT and allow for optimized prognostic patient stratification. Furthermore, the identified recurrent genomic aberrations such as 1q gains (including MDM4), CDKN2a/b deletions and EGFR amplifications may inform therapeutic decision-making.

Enterprise risk management (ERM) was introduced in the 1990s and has become an expectation by boards of directors and regulators as a sign of good management and good corporate governance. However, many organizations struggle to implement ERM, and still seek practical ad-vice on ERM implementation. This article explains many of the reasons why organizations are unsuccessful in their efforts at implementation and provides practical solutions by an experienced risk manager and consultant, an ex-Chief Risk Officer, and an academic, all who has writ-ten extensively in the subject. This article should be of interest to practitioners involved in implementing ERM, to consultants in ERM, and to academics teaching courses on ERM, risk management, and related topics. This article also provides a base against which further future re-search can be done as ERM best practices continue to evolve.

Children with central nervous system (CNS) malignancies often suffer from high symptom burden and risk of death. Pediatric palliative care is a medical specialty, provided by an interdisciplinary team, which focuses on enhancing quality of life and minimizing suffering for children with life-threatening or life-limiting disease, and their families. Primary palliative care skills which include basic symptom management, facilitation of goals-of-care discussions, and transition to hospice can and should be developed by all providers of neuro-oncology care. This chapter will review the fundamentals of providing primary palliative care

Caring for dolphins is a delicate process that requires experienced caretakers to pay close attention to their behavioral characteristics. However, caretakers may sometimes lack experience or not be able to give their full attention, which can lead to misjudgment or oversight. To address these issues, a dolphin behavior analysis system has been designed to assist caretakers in making accurate assessments. The study utilized image preprocessing techniques to reduce sunlight reflection in the pool and enhance the outline of dolphins, making it easier to analyze their movements. The dolphins were divided into 11 keypoints using an open-source tool called DeepLabCut, which helped accurately mark various body parts for skeletal detection. The AquaAI Dolphin Decoder (ADD) was then used to analyze six dolphin behaviors. To improve behavior recognition accuracy, the Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) neural network was introduced. The ADD and LSTM models were integrated to form the ADD-LSTM system. Several classification models, including unidirectional and bidirectional LSTM, GRU, and SVM, were compared. The results showed that the ADD module combined with a double-layer bidirectional LSTM method achieved high accuracy in dolphin behavior analysis. The accuracy rates for each behavior were over 90%.

The utilization and engineering of thermo-optic effects have found broad applications in integrated photonic devices, facilitating efficient light manipulation to achieve various functionalities. Here, we perform both an experimental characterization and theoretical analysis of these effects in integrated micro-ring resonators in high index doped silica (HIDS), which has had many applications in integrated photonics and nonlinear optics. By fitting the experimental results with theory, we obtain fundamental parameters that characterize their thermo-optic performance, including the thermo-optic coefficient, the efficiency for the optically induced thermo-optic process, and the thermal conductivity. The characteristics of these parameters are compared to those of other materials commonly used for integrated photonic platforms, such as silicon, silicon nitride, and silica. These results offer a comprehensive insight into the thermo-optic properties of HIDS based devices. Understanding these properties is essential for efficiently controlling and engineering them in many practical applications.

In contemporary design practices, there is a disconnect between the design techniques used for early-stage design experimentation and performance analysis, and those used for the manufacture and construction. This study addresses the problems in developing an integrated digital design workflow and provides a research framework for integrating environmental performance requirements with robotic manufacturing processes on a construction site. The proposed method enables the user to import a design surface, identify design parameters, set several environmental performance goals, and thereafter simulate and select a robotic building strategy. Based on these inputs, design alternatives are developed and evaluated, considering their robotically simulated constructibility, in terms of their performance criteria. To validate the proposed method, the design is evaluated in an experiment wherein a double-skin facade perforation is generated using the proposed methodology. The results suggest a heuristic feature to improve the simulated robotic constructibility. Moreover, the functionality of the prototype is demonstrated.

Medicinal plants are generally defined as rare herbals with potent medicinal activities that can be used as an alternative treatment for diseases. Recent studies exploring novel medicine developments, originating from folk-medicinal practices challenges this notion and suggests that both the circumference of the term medicinal plant and their potential application covers a substantially extensive verse than previously suggested. While medicinal plants are not limited to the borders of any country, Bangladesh and its south-east Asian neighbors do boast a huge collection of potent medicinal plants with considerable folk-medicine history compared to most other countries of the world. MPDB 2.0 is the continuation of MPDB 1.0, it serves as both a data repertoire for medicinal of Bangladesh and a user-friendly interface for researchers, health practitioners, drug developers, and students who wish to study the various medicinal & nutritive plants scattered around Bangladesh and the underlying phytochemicals contributing to their efficacy in folk medicine. While in developing MPDB 2.0 human diseases have been highly focused upon, the information in this database is not limited in its application for human diseases or diseases only, as many of the plants indexed here can serve in developing biofuel or bioremediation technologies or nutritive diets or cosmetics, etc. MPDB 2.0 comprises a collection of more than five hundred medicinal plants from Bangladesh along with a record of their corresponding scientific, family, and local names together with their utilized parts, information regarding ailments, active compounds, and PubMed ID of related publications.

With superior optical properties, high flexibility in engineering its material properties, and strong capability for large-scale on-chip integration, graphene oxide (GO) is an attractive solution for on-chip integration of two-dimensional (2D) materials to implement functional integrated photonic devices capable of new features. Over the past decade, integrated GO photonics, representing an innovative merging of integrated photonic devices and thin GO films, has experienced significant development, leading to a surge in many applications covering almost every field of optical sciences. This paper reviews the recent advances in this emerging field, providing an overview of the optical properties of GO as well as methods for the on-chip integration of GO. The main achievements made in GO hybrid integrated photonic devices for diverse applications are summarized. The open challenges as well as the potential for future improvement are also discussed.

This paper studies the integrated design problems of control and guidance with parameter uncertainties, target disturbances, input constraints and actuator faults. Firstly, based on the integrated design idea of the missile guidance and control, the auxiliary variable is used to establish and transform it into a cascade system with input constraints, actuator faults and disturbances of unknown upper bounds. Secondly, the adaptive anti-saturation dynamic surface fault-tolerant controller is designed by using the back-stepping method, adaptive control, auxiliary system and tracking differentiator. By introducing the tracking differentiator and tangent barrier Lyapunov function, the computational explosion problem in the traditional back-stepping method is avoided and the angle of attack can be guaranteed in prospective range, respectively. Finally, the theoretical proof of the designed control strategy is given to ensure that the states of the closed-loop system are bounded. At the same time, the digital simulation of the maneuvering target of different maneuvering forms is carried out, which further illustrate the effectiveness and robustness of the designed control schemes.

G protein-coupled receptor 15 (GPR15, also known as BOB) is an extensively studied orphan GPCR involving HIV infection, colonic inflammation and smoking-related diseases. Recently, GPR15 was deorphanized and its corresponding natural ligand demonstrated an ability of inhibiting cancer cell growth. However, no study reported the potential role of GPR15 in a pan-cancer manner. Using large-scale publicly available data from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) databases, we found that GPR15 expression is significantly lower in colon adenocarcinoma (COAD) than in normal tissues. And among 33 cancer types, GPR15 expression is significantly correlated with the prognoses of COAD, neck squamous carcinoma (HNSC), lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) positively and stomach adenocarcinoma (STAD) negatively. This study also revealed that commonly upregulated gene set in the high GPR15 expression group (stratified via median) of COAD, HNSC, LUAD and STAD are enriched in immune systems, indicating that GPR15 might be considered as a potential target for cancer immunotherapy. Furthermore, we modelled the 3D structure of GPR15 and conducted the structure-based virtual screening. The top 8 hits compounds were screened and then subjected to molecular dynamics (MD) simulation for stability analysis. Our study provided novel insights into the role of GPR15 in a pan-cancer manner and discovered a potential hit compound for GPR15 antagonists.

Fruits and vegetable diagnosis and inspection is a crucial part of quality control and health safety. From harvesting to retailing, stakeholders encounter tons of food losses due to the lack of monitoring of the fruit condition in retail. The problem gets worse because it is being handled by many people, including retailers and customers. We propose a transparent fiberglass-made vertical fruit showcase, which provides 80 percent more visibility, takes lesser shop space, and prevents human contact. It is convenient for the retailer and customer to use. Moreover, the controlled fruit environment is easy to integrate with IoT, which will help to generate consensus data for fruit management decisions in machine learning.

The physicochemical treatment/recovery techniques, including precipitation, membrane technology, solvent extraction, foam fractionation, adsorption, and aqueous two-phase systems, will be reviewed. The bio-treatment processes, based on microorganisms and/or enzymes consuming nutrients available in food-processing wastewater as low-cost substrates to produce valuable products, will be discussed in detail, including the production of microalga biomass in wastewater treatment systems. Finally, future research direction will be proposed to integrate the circular economy and develop integrated food processing wastewater management systems.

Integrated photonic devices operating via optical nonlinearities offer a powerful solution for all-optical information processing, yielding processing speeds that are well beyond that of electronic processing as well as providing the added benefits of compact footprint, high stability, high scalability, and small power consumption. The increasing demand for high-performance nonlinear integrated photonic devices has facilitated the hybrid integration of novel materials to address the limitations of existing integrated photonic platforms, such as strong nonlinear optical absorption or an inadequate optical nonlinearity. Recently, graphene oxide (GO), with its large optical nonlinearity, high flexibility in altering its properties, and facile fabrication processes, has attracted significant attention, enabling many hybrid nonlinear integrated photonic devices with improved performance and novel capabilities. This paper reviews the applications of GO to nonlinear integrated photonics. First, an overview of GO’s optical properties and the fabrication technologies needed for its on-chip integration is provided. Next, the state-of-the-art GO nonlinear integrated photonic devices are reviewed, together with comparisons of the nonlinear optical performance of different integrated platforms incorporating GO. Finally, the challenges and perspectives of this field are discussed.

Replacement of fee-for-service with capitation arrangements, forces physicians and institutions to minimize health care costs, while maintaining high-quality care. In this report we describe how patients, their families (and caregivers) can work with members of the medical care team to achieve these twin goals of maintaining (and perhaps improving) high-quality care and minimizing costs. We describe how increased self-management enables patients and their families/caregivers to provide electronic patient-reported outcomes (i.e., symptoms, events) (ePROs) as frequently as the patient or the medical care team consider appropriate. These capabilities also allow greater reliance on the use of mobile technologies (mHealth) to provide ongoing assessments of physiologic measurements/phenomena. Remote surveillance of these communications allows longer intervals between (fewer) visits of patients to the medical-care team when this is appropriate and earlier interventions when that is appropriate. Systems are now available that alert medical care providers to situations when interventions might be needed.

Piezoelectric cantilever harvesters have a large power output at their natural frequency, but in some applications the frequency of ambient vibrations is different from the harvester’s frequency and/or ambient vibrations are periodic with some harmonic components. To cope with these operating conditions harvesters with integrated trimming devices (ITDs) are proposed. Some prototypes are developed with the aid of an analytical model and tested with an impulsive method. Results show that a small trimming device can lower the main resonance frequency of a piezoelectric harvester of the same extent as a larger tip mass and moreover generates at high frequency a second resonance peak. A multi-physics numerical FE model is developed for predicting the generated power and for performing stress-strain analysis of harvesters with ITDs. The numerical model is validated on the basis of experimental results. Several configurations of ITDs are conceived and studied. Numerical results show that harvesters with ITDs are able to generate relevant power at two frequencies owing to the particular shape of the modes of vibration. The stress in the harvesters with ITDs is smaller than the stress in the harvester with a tip mass trimmed to the same frequency.

In this paper, a novel integrated high precision vacuum microelectronic accelerometer is put forward based on the theory of field emission, the accelerometer consists of sensitive structure and interface ASIC. The sensitive structure has a mass of a cathode cone tips array, a folded beam, an emitter electrode and a feedback electrode. The sensor is fabricated on a double side polished (1 0 0) N-type silicon wafer, the tips array of cathode are shaped by wet etching with HNA (HNO3, HF and CH3COOH) and metalized by TiW/Au thin film. The structure of sensor is released by ICP process finally. The interface ASIC was designed and fabricated based on the P-JFET high voltage bipolar process. The accelerometer is tested through static field rollover test, and the test results show the integrated vacuum microelectronic accelerometer has good performances, which sensitivity is 3.081V/g and non-linearity is 0.84% in the measuring range of −1g~1g.

The release profiles of methotrexate, an anticancer drug, from the monoolein liquid crystalline cubic phases were studied. The cubic phases were used either in the form of a lipidic film deposited onto a glassy carbon electrode surface or in the dispersed form of magnetocubosomes, which are considered a prospective hybrid drug delivery system. Commonly, cubosomes or liposomes are employed, but not in the case of toxic methotrexate, known to block receptors responsible for folate transport into the cells. The release profiles of the drug from the lipidic films were monitored electrochemically and described using the Higuchi model. They were also modified via changes in temperature; the release was faster, although deviating from the model when the temperature was increased. Magnetocubosomes - cubic phase nanoparticles containing hydrophobic magnetic nanoparticles placed in an alternating magnetic field of low frequency and amplitude, stimulated drug release from the suspension, which was monitored spectroscopically. These new biocompatible hybrid materials are very promising, allowing to control the release of the drug at the appropriate sites, but do require further investigations into their in vitro cytotoxicity and in vivo biodistribution.

This paper develops a two-layer optimization approach that provides energy-optimal control for vehicles and traffic signal controllers. The optimizer in the first layer computes the traffic signal timings to minimize the total energy consumption levels of approaching vehicles from upstream traffic. The traffic signal optimization can be easily implemented in real-time signal controllers, and it overcomes the issues in the traditional Webster’s method of overestimating the cycle length when the traffic volume-to-capacity ratio exceeds 50 percent. The second layer optimizer is the vehicle speed controller, which calculates the optimal vehicle brake and throttle levels to minimize the energy consumption of individual vehicles. The A-star dynamic programming is used to solve the formulated optimization problem in the second layer to expedite the computation speed so that the optimal vehicle trajectories can be computed in real-time and can be easily implemented in simulation software for testing. The proposed integrated controller is first tested on an isolated signalized intersection, and then an arterial network with multiple intersections to investigate the performance of the proposed controller under various traffic demand levels. The test results demonstrate that the proposed integrated controller can greatly improve energy efficiency with fuel savings up to 17.7%, at the same time enhancing traffic mobility by up to 47.18% reduction in traffic delay and up to 24.84% reduction in vehicle stops.

Abstract: This article provides a brief review of the ontogeny of chondrocytes and the pathophysiology of osteoarthritis (OA), and details how physical exercise improves the health of osteoarthritic joints and enhances the potential of mesenchymal stem cells for successful transplantation therapy. In response to exercise chondrocytes increase their production of glycosaminoglycans, bone morphogenic proteins and antiinflammatory cytokines and decrease their production of proinflammatory cytokines and matrix degrading metalloproteinases. These changes are associated with improvements in cartilage organization and reductions in cartilage degeneration. Studies in humans indicate that exercise increases peripheral blood recruitment of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSC) and upregulates BM-MSC expression of osteogenic and chondrogenic genes, osteogenic micro-RNAs, and osteogenic growth factors. Rodent experiments are uniform in demonstrating that exercise enhances the osteogenic potential of BM-MSC while diminishing their adipogenic potential, and that exercise done after stem cell implantation may benefit stem cell transplant viability. Physical exercise also exerts a beneficial effect on the skeletal system by decreasing immune cell production of osteoclastogenic cytokines interleukin (IL)-1β, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, and interferon (INF)-γ while increasing their production anti-osteoclastogenic cytokines IL-10 and transforming growth factor (TGF)-β. In conclusion, physical exercise done both by stem cell donors and recipients may improve the outcome of mesenchymal stem cell transplantation.

In this work, we designed a MEMS device which allows simultaneous direct measurement of mechanical properties during deformation under external stress and characterization of the evolution of microstructure of nanomaterials within a transmission electron microscope. This MEMS device makes it easy to establish the correlation between microstructure and mechanical properties of nanomaterials. The device uses piezoresistive sensors to qualitatively measure the force and displacement of nanomaterials, e.g., in wire and thin plate forms. The device has a theoretical displacement resolution of 0.19 nm and a force resolution of 2.1 μN. The device has a theoretical displacement range limit of 2.74 μm and a load range limit of 27.75 mN.

In the context of carbon neutrality and carbon peaking, in order to achieve low carbon emissions and promote the efficient utilization of wind energy, hydrogen energy as an important energy carrier is proposed to mix hydrogen and natural gas to form hydrogen enriched compressed natu-ral gas (HCNG). It is also injected into the natural gas pipeline network to realize the transmission and utilization of hydrogen energy. At the same time, the participation of demand response is considered, the load peak and trough period is adjusted, and large-scale consumption of renewa-ble energy and the reduction of carbon emissions are realized. First of all, a fine model of hydro-gen production and hydrogen use equipment is established to analyze the impact of adding hy-drogen mixing on the economy and low-carbon of the system. With green certificates and demand response, the utilization rate of hydrogen energy is improved to further explore the energy utiliza-tion rate and emission reduction capacity of the system. Secondly, on the basis of modeling, the optimal scheduling strategy is proposed with the sum of energy purchase cost, equipment opera-tion cost, carbon emission cost, wind curtailment cost and green certificate income as the lowest objective function. Considering the constraints such as hydrogen blending ratio and flexible load ratio of the pipeline network, a low-carbon economic scheduling model of hydrogen mixed natu-ral gas was established. The model was linearized and solved by using MATLAB and CPLEX solver. By comparing different scenarios, the superiority of the model and the effectiveness of the strategy are verified.

Integrated landscape approaches (ILA) aim to reconcile multiple, often competing, interests across agriculture, nature conservation, and other land uses. Recognized ILA design principles provide guidance for their implementation, yet application remains challenging, and a strong performance evidence-base is yet to be formed. A comprehensive literature review and focus group discussions with practitioners identified considerable diversity of ILA in actors, temporal, and spatial scales, inter alia. This diversity hampers learning from and steering these integrated planning approaches because of its intractable nature. Therefore, we developed a tool—an ‘ILA mixing board’—to structure the complexity of ILA into selectable and scalable attributes in a replicable way to allow planning, diagnostics, and comparative assessment of ILA. The ILA mixing board tool presents seven qualifiers, each representing a key attribute of ILA design and performance such as project flexibility, inclusiveness of the dialogue, and the centrality of the power distribution. Each qualifier has five (non-normative) outcome indicators that can be registered as present or absent. This process in turn guides planners, evaluators and other participating stakeholders involved in landscape management to diagnose the ILA type, and or its performance. We apply the ILA mixing board as a diagnostic tool to three ILA cases in Nicaragua, Madagascar, and the Congo Basin to show some of the many possible configurations of qualifiers on the mixing board. Overall, the tool allows comparative analyses of the complexity of ILA in a structured and manageable way.

We theoretically investigate and optimize the performance of four-wave mixing (FWM) in microring resonators (MRRs) integrated with two-dimensional (2D) layered graphene oxide (GO) films. Owing to the interaction between the MRRs and the highly nonlinear GO films as well as to the resonant enhancement effect, the FWM efficiency in GO-coated MRRs can be significantly improved. Based on previous experiments, we perform detailed analysis for the influence of the GO film parameters and MRR coupling strength on the FWM conversion efficiency (CE) of the hybrid MRRs. By optimizing the device parameters to balance the trade-off between the Kerr nonlinearity and loss, we achieve a high CE enhancement of ~18.6 dB relative to the uncoated MRR, which is ~8.3 dB higher than previous experimental results. The influence of photo-thermal changes in the GO films as well as variations in the MRR parameters such as the ring radius and waveguide dispersion on the FWM performance is also discussed. These results highlight the significantly improved FWM performance that can be achieved in MRRs incorporating GO films

The energy yield of the Vehicle-integrated photovoltaic (VIPV) differs from that of the standard photovoltaics (PV). It is mainly by the difference of the solar irradiance onto the car-roof and car-bodies as well as its curved-shape. Both meaningful and practical modeling and measurement of the solar irradiance for VIPV are needed to be newly established, not the extension of the current technologies. The solar irradiance was modeled by a random distribution of the shading objects and car-orientation with the correction of the curved surface of the PV modules. The measurement of the solar irradiance onto the car-roof and car-body was done using five pyranometers in five local axes on the car for one year. The measured dynamic solar irradiance onto the car-body and car-roof was used for validation of the solar irradiance model in the car.

Social and spatial characteristics of a population often interact to influence health outcomes, suggesting a need to jointly analyze both to offer useful insights in community health. However, researchers have used either social or spatial analyses to examine community-based health issues and inform intervention programs. We propose a combined socio-spatial analytic approach to develop a social network with spatial weights and a spatial statistic with social weights, and apply them to an ongoing study of mental and physical well-being of rural Latino immigrants in North Florida, USA. We demonstrate how this approach can be used to calculate measures, such as social network centrality, support contact dyads, and spatial kernel density based on a health survey data. Findings reveal that the integrated approach accurately reflected interactions between social and spatial elements, and identified community members (who) and locations (where) that should be prioritized for community-based health interventions.

Diagnosing melanocytic lesions is among the most challenging problems in the practice of pathology. The difficulty of physically masking melanin pigment and the similarity of its color to commonly used chromogens often complicate examination of the cytomorphology and immunohistochemical staining results for tumor cells. Melanin bleach can be very helpful for histopathological diagnosis of heavily pigmented melanocytic lesions. Although various depigmentation methods have been reported, no standardized methods have been developed. This study developed a fully automated platform that incorporates hydrogen peroxide-based melanin depigmentation in an automated immunohistochemical analysis. The utility of the method was tested in one cell block of malignant melanoma cells in pleural effusion, ten ocular melanoma tissue samples, and ten cutaneous melanoma tissue samples. Our results demonstrated that the proposed method, which can be performed in only 3 hours, effectively preserves cell cytomorphology and immunoreactivity. The method is particularly effective for removing melanin pigment to facilitate histopathological examination of cytomorphology and for obtaining an unmasked tissue section for immunohistochemical analysis.

Over the past decade, Knowledge bases (KB) have been increasingly utilized to complete and enrich the representation of queries and documents in order to improve the document retrieval task. Although many approaches have used KB for such purpose, understanding how effectively lev-erage entity-based representation still needs to be resolved. This paper proposes a Purely Enti-ty-based Semantic Search Approach for Information Retrieval (PESS4IR) as a novel solution. The approach includes (i) its own entity linking method, (ii) an inverted indexing method, and for document retrieval and ranking, (iii) an appropriate ranking method is designed to take advantage of all the strengths of the approach. We report the findings on the performance of our approach tested by queries annotated by two known entity linking tools, REL and DBpedia-Spotlight. The experiments are performed on the standard TREC 2004 Robust and MSMARCO collections. By using the REL method, for queries whose all terms are annotated and whose average annotation scores are greater than or equal to 0.75, our approach achieves the maximum nDCG@5 score (1.000). Thus, using our approach with any other document retrieval method would be an added value, unless that method achieves the maximum nDCG@5 score for those highly annotated queries.

Nature-based Solutions (NbS) have rapidly been gaining traction across the research, policy, and practice spheres, touted as transformative actions to jointly address biodiversity loss and climate change. However, there are multiple, alternative ways to imagine NbS in those three spheres. To inform the NbS discourses across these three spheres, we critically reflect on the prevailing framing of NbS and consider the potential of a different framing of NbS to support transformations towards regenerative relationships between humans and nature. Such reflection is urgently needed to ensure that research, policy, and practice delivers on the transformative ambitions of NbS. We propose a novel “core framing” of NbS, charting two pathways for how such a framing can support a human value-based transformation – first through influencing individual beliefs and values, and second through the communication and application of the NbS concept in research, policy, and practice. We argue that for NbS to support transformation, it must support a reframing of human-nature relationships, one where the interdependencies between people and nature are recognized as essential for social and environmental well-being. We elaborate on how such a framing is key to support inclusivity and collaboration between diverse research perspectives, policy objectives across scales, and implementation practices, to deliver successful NbS.

Efficient heat management and control in optical devices, facilitated by advanced thermo-optic materials, is critical for many applications such as photovoltaics, thermal emitters, mode-locked lasers, and optical switches. Here, we investigate the thermo-optic properties of 2D graphene oxide (GO) films by precisely integrating them onto microring resonators (MRRs) with control over the film thicknesses and lengths. We characterize the refractive index, extinction coefficient, thermo-optic coefficient, and thermal conductivity of for the GO films with different layer numbers and degrees of reduction, including reversible reduction and enhanced optical bistability induced by photo-thermal effects. Experimental results show that the thermo-optic properties of 2D GO films vary widely with the degree of reduction, with significant polarization anisotropy, enabling efficient polarization sensitive devices. The versatile thermo-optic response of 2D GO substantially expands the scope of functionalities and devices that can be engineered, making it promising for a diverse range of thermo-optic applications.

Effective management of water distribution systems requires an integrated approach, but none of the available frameworks for one are in broad use in the water supply industry. Frameworks developed include a management standard of the American Water Works Association and Distribution System Optimization, a methodology for physical, hydraulic, and water quality performance assessment. The intelligent systems framework also offers a pathway to integration, but it lacks a definite structure. The voluntary aspect of adopting innovations within the fragmented and unregulated nature of the water utility industry poses a barrier to adoption of such innovations. Another barrier is the uncoordinated arrangements of water research stakeholders with different incentive structures. Intelligent water systems offer a way to incentive utilities to encourage implementation. They can provide a bottom-up approach where utilities see advantages, as opposed to a top-down approach where they are expected to adopt a method without seeing clear benefits. Research to develop new and improved tools is needed, but the research roadmap should prioritize implementation.

People with Intellectual Disability (ID) encounter several problems in their daily living regarding their needs, activities, interrelationships, and communication. On this concept, an interactive platform is proposed, aiming to provide personalized recommendations for information and entertainment, including creative and educational activities, tailored to the special users’ needs of this population. Furthermore, the proposed platform integrates capabilities of automatic recognition of health related emergencies, such as fever, oxygen saturation decline and tachycardia, as well as location tracking and detection of wandering behavior based on smartwatch/smartphone sensors, while providing automated assistance and appropriate alerts and notifications to the caregivers.

Technological innovations and the expansion of Internet access have produced significant changes in the configurations of organizations and, consequently, in the relationships between employees and employers. This new scenario generates the need for greater monitoring in the workplace in order to control inappropriate behavior or situations that may generate misfortunes. Two important problems faced are the dissemination of hate through networks and data leakage that can have social, psychological, and financial impacts. Thus, monitoring tools can be incorporated to assist in surveillance, and thus ensure the achievement of organizational objectives. This paper presents a workplace computer monitoring solution that integrates Spyware techniques, and text sentiment classification, along with a distributed microservices architecture, which aims to collect a range of information and generate alerts to managers regarding hate speech and vulnerabilities. Preliminary tests have been conducted to evaluate the performance of Spyware integrated with prediction models.

In this paper, we review devices used in silicon photonic switches. Devices in switches are divided into active and passive devices. Active devices consist of microring resonator, contra directional couplers, mach zhender switches. Passive devices consist of waveguide crossings and arrayed waveguide gratings. We also list the state of the art in devices in a comparison table.

Unification point of view, quantum cosmology must be given a priority and one should make a note that, Spin is a basic property of quantum physics and rotation is a very common experience. In this context, we have developed a quantum model of cosmology associated with Machian universe having Planck scale origin, total dark matter, light speed rotation and equality of gravitational self energy density and thermal energy density. We would like to appeal that, observed cosmic radius and age seem to be shortened by 146.3 times their actual magnitudes.

In the Republic of Serbia, no comprehensive scientific multimethod research has been conducted to identify weaknesses and opportunities for improving the disaster risk management system. Regarding that, in the paper, author presents project description ,,Strengthening Integrated Disaster Risk Management System in Serbia - DISARIMES” which shall enable strengthening the disaster risk management system through research, development and innovative solutions implementation in the preparation, mitigation, response, remediation and post-disaster phases. The scientific importance of the projected research is reflected in the creation of assumptions for the advancement of theoretical and empirical knowledge in the scientific field of disaster risk management, bearing in mind that it is a relatively young scientific discipline in Serbia. The results of the project research will make it easier for decision makers in Serbia to understand the shortcomings of the system, but also provide innovative opportunities to improve their functioning in conditions of increasingly frequent and serious disasters. Establishing a scientific and professional society in the field of disaster risk management will create sustainable and necessary conditions for the transfer and improvement of knowledge and experience of importance for raising the level of operability of the system of protection and rescue of the Republic of Serbia in the event of disasters. A key contribution of the research findings will be to create a sustainable knowledge base that will be supported by the relevant amount of information regarding innovative capabilities and solutions identified as necessary to raise social resilience to a much higher level. In order to achieve the set goals, DISARIMES makes it possible, through a large number of SWOT analyses and other multimethod studies, to clearly identify and systematize the objective deficiencies and barriers encountered by the disaster risk management system in Serbia in all its stages before, during and after disasters, to identify and implement the appropriate solutions based on this. The objectives of the project are: to assess and identify strengths (advantages), weaknesses (disadvantages), opportunities (innovation potential) and threats for the disaster risk management system in Serbia; to develop and update RDI (research, development, innovation) Roadmap – knowledge databases with innovative solutions and other relevant information for improvement of the disaster risk management system; to fully deploy the DISARIMES scientific-professional network involving a broad range of the disaster risk management scientists and civil protection professions and organisations; to prepare the ground for the disaster risk management policy innovations.

With the increasing adoption of building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV), concerns arise about potential glare. While recommended criteria to assess glare exist, it is challenging to apply these in the spatial and temporal domains and communicate the complex data to planning authorities and clients. This paper presents a new computational workflow using annual daylight simulation, material modelling using bi-directional scattering distribution functions (BSDFs) and image-based postprocessing to obtain 3-dimensional renderings of cumulative annual irradiance and glare duration on the built environment. The annual daylight simulation considers relevant sun positions in high temporal resolution (15-minute timesteps) and measured BSDFs to model different PV materials. The postprocessing includes a relative irradiance visualisation comparing the impact of a proposed PV proportional to a reference material. It also includes a new spatio-temporal workflow to assess the glare duration based on recommended thresholds. This workflow is demonstrated with a case study of a proposed PV roof for a church, assessing the glare potential of two different PV materials. The visualisations indicate glare durations well below the thresholds with satinated PVs, and in noncritical zones outside observer positions with standard PVs. Thus the proposed PV roof does not cause any disturbing glare.

Abstract: The trend of fasting until noon (omission or delayed breakfast) is increasingly prevalent in modern society. This eating pattern triggers discordance between endogenous circadian clock rhythms and the feeding/fasting cycle and is associated with an increased incidence of obesity and T2D. Although the underlying mechanism of this association is not well understood, growing evidence suggests that fasting until noon, also known as an “extended postabsorptive state,” has the potential to cause a deleterious effect on clock gene expression and disrupted regulation of body weight, postprandial and overall glycemia, skeletal muscle protein synthesis, appetite and may also lead to lower energy expenditure. This manuscript overviews the clock gene-controlled glucose metabolism during the active and resting phases. The consequences of postponing until noon the transition from postabsorptive to fed state on glucose metabolism, weight control, and energy expenditure. Finally, we will discuss the metabolic advantage of shifting more energy, carbohydrates (CH), and proteins to the early hours of the day.

Total-body PET/CT scanners provide increased sensitivity, enabling the adjustment of imaging parameters by reducing injected activity or shortening acquisition time. This study aimed to evaluate the limitations of reduced [18F]FDG activity doses on image quality, lesion detectabil-ity, and quantification of lesion uptake in the Biograph Vision Quadra, as well as to assess the benefits of the recently introduced ultra-high sensitivity mode in a clinical setting. A number of 26 patients who underwent [18F]FDG-PET/CT (3.0 MBq/kg, 5 min. scan time) were included in this analysis. PET raw data was rebinned for shorter frame durations to simulate 5 min. scans with lower activities in high sensitivity (HS) and ultra-high sensitivity (UHS) modes. Image quality, noise, and lesion detectability (n=82) were assessed using a 5-point Likert scale. The co-efficient of variation (CoV), signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), tumor-to-background ratio (TBR), and standardized uptake values (SUV) including SUVmean, SUVmax, and SUVpeak were evaluated. Sub-jective image ratings were generally superior in UHS compared to HS mode. At 0.5 MBq/kg, le-sion detectability decreased to 95% (HS) and 98% (UHS). SNR was comparable at 1.0 MBq/kg in HS (5.7±0.6) and 0.5 MBq/kg in UHS (5.5±0.5). With lower doses, there were negligible reductions in SUVmean and SUVpeak, whereas SUVmax increased steadily. Reducing [18F]FDG activity to 1.0 MBq/kg (HS/UHS) in a total-body PET/CT provides diagnostic image quality without statistical-ly significant changes in uptake parameters. UHS mode improves image quality, noise, and le-sion detectability compared to HS mode.

Based on the goals of "high reliability, high frequency, rapid launch, and low cost" for space launch site, and drawing inspiration from the design principles of SpaceX's Starship launch test facility, an integrated dual-sided deflector system for convective cooling and thermal protection is presented. The interaction process between the gas jet and liquid water jet and its effect on the flow field environment are thoroughly studied using numerical calculation methods. Furthermore, Regarding the phase-change heat transfer issue in a compressible gas-liquid two-phase flow and the varying distribution of different bubble shapes and sizes at the gas-liquid interface, a modified Lee model is derived. The rationality and accuracy of the phase-change mass-transfer coefficient values can be improved by adjusting the equivalent diameter and shape factor of the bubbles. The research results demonstrate that compared to the classical Lee model, the modified Lee model can achieve a higher numerical accuracy in predicting the heat and mass transfer processes in gas-liquid two-phase flows. Through comparative analysis with traditional dual-sided deflector and conventional cooling system, the integrated dual-sided deflector system for convective cooling and thermal protection exhibits significant performance advantages in gas flow regulation, flow field environment improvement and erosion protection in the near-ground region of the launch site. Particularly, regarding the thermal environment of the dual-sided deflector, it not only achieves effective flow deflection, but also mitigates the degree of erosion caused by the gas jet on the deflector. This conclusion can provide theoretical references for the thermal protection design of commercial launch vehicle system at space launch site.

The increased cultivation of high THC-containing Cannabis sativa L. (cannabis), particularly in greenhouses, has resulted in a greater incidence of diseases and molds that can negatively affect the growth and quality of the crop. Among them, the most important diseases are root rots (Fusarium and Pythium spp.), Botrytis bud rot (Botrytis cinerea), powdery mildew (Golovinomyces ambrosiae), cannabis stunt disease (caused by Hop latent viroid), and a range of microbes that reduce post-harvest quality. An integrated management approach to reduce the impact of these diseases/microbes requires combining different approaches that target the reproduction, spread and survival of the associated pathogens, many of which can occur on the same plant simultaneously. These approaches will be discussed in the context of developing an integrated plan to manage the important pathogens of greenhouse-grown cannabis at different stages of plant development. These stages include maintenance of stock plants, propagation through cuttings, vegetative growth of plants, and flowering. The cultivation of cannabis genotypes with tolerance or resistance to various pathogens is a very important approach, followed by the maintenance of pathogen-free stock plants. When combined with cultural approaches (sanitation, management of irrigation, and monitoring for diseases) and environmental approaches (greenhouse climate modification), a significant reduction in pathogen development and spread can be achieved. The use of preventive applications of microbial biological control agents and reduced risk biorational products can also reduce disease development at all stages of production in jurisdictions where they are registered for use. The combined use of promising strategies for integrated disease management on cannabis plants during greenhouse production will be reviewed. Future areas for research are identified.

The evaluation of tourism sustainability has become of paramount importance for researchers and decision-makers to better protect tourist destinations, especially with the continuous increase in the number of tourists and visitors that alter the natural components of the environment and degrade ecosystems. Therefore, the use of geographical data is of great significance, particularly in environmental monitoring and land management, due to its ease of use and availability. However, calculating composite indices for sustainability involves several steps and requires a basic understanding of existing models. This article describes the development and design of a package of plugins in QGIS that serves as an easy-to-use tool for processing and automatically calculating economic, environmental, social indices, and the overall index of tourist sustainability. These plugins have been built in Python and designed as QGIS software plugins.

Rice is an essential crop for national food security in Egypt. Increasing the population calls for regular increases in rice production. At the same time, cultivated rice crop areas should be decreased because of the gradual scarcity of irrigation water. This means more rice production should be gained from less rice area. This situation calls for the annual accurate system for rice monitoring and yield estimation. Therefore, it is necessary to apply a remotely sensed based system for rice cultivation assessment using satellite imagery parallel with field measurements of some biophysical parameters. Multi-temporal normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) extracted from twelve sentinel-2 imagery cover the whole summer season with variance and maximum value assessed by ground control points (GCPs), were used to isolate uncultivated areas, then to isolate rice areas and other vegetation covers. object-based classification methods with kappa co-efficient 0.9261 and overall accuracy 94.92% was generated to discriminate rice crop area and other summer crops on the study area. Leaf area index (LAI) for the experiment the l site was calculated using the surface energy balance algorithm for Land (SEBAL) model and then tested versus measured (LAI). NDVI and LAI were used to generate an empirical ran rice yield prediction model. Then, this model was used to produce rice to yield a map. The study was carried out in an experimental site in Kafr Elsheikh governorate with a total area of 5040 Hectare. Produced cultivated land use map showed 95% overall accuracy. High similarity was observed between measured and calculated (LAI) with high accuracy of R2 = 0.94. of Rice, yield map showed expected to yield more to than a month before harvest. The generated yield map was tested using a correlation coefficient between actual yield and estimated yield with high accuracy R2 = 0.9. This method is applicable to estimate the acreage and productivity of rice in the northern Nile delta in adequate time before harvest.

The exploration and identification of targets and pathways for Atopic dermatitis (AD) treatment and diagnosis are critical for AD control. The conventional target exploration approach such as the literature review is not satisfying in terms of efficiency and accuracy. Recently, the bioinformatic approach is drawing attention for its unique advantage of high-volume data analysis for target and pathway exploration; Open Targets Platform is the targets source for this study to extract top 200 high-rank proteins from 3122 AD associated proteins. STRING, Cytoscape, CytoHubba, ClueGo, and CluePedia function had been applied for data analysis. The KEGG Mapper search & colour pathway was the pathway map resource for identified pathways; 23 key hub genes (VDR, KIT, BCL2L11, NFKBIA, KRAS, IL13, JAK2, STAT3, IL21, IL4R, REL, PDGFRB, FOXP3, RARA, RELB, EGFR, IL21R, MYC, CREBBP, NR3C1, IL2, JAK1, and KITLG). Additionally, 8 correlated pathways and the biological process had been identified; Through this study, a viable approach for target and pathway exploration had been presented. The identified AD targets and pathways will be tested for upcoming research for traditional Chinese medicinal herb interactions

Abstract: The aim of this study was to compare the influence of corporate board characteristics on the extent of environmental disclosure quantity of listed firms in two leading emerging economies in Africa, South Africa (integrated reporting framework) and Nigeria (traditional reporting framework). Methods: The sample was comprised of 303 firms including environmentally sensitive companies purposively selected for content analysis study in South Africa (213) and Nigeria (90). We used both descriptive, multivariate and regression models to comparatively analyze the differences about corporate board characteristics as determinants of the extent of their environmental disclosure quantity. Results: The results reveal a more significant positive association between board characteristics and environmental disclosure in South Africa and less relevant association in Nigeria. Also, the results support that board independence arrangement may serve as bonding mechanisms in weak reporting environments, suggesting a substitutive relationship between board independence and the regulatory framework. Quiet revealing a board with environmental committee show a higher tendency to be ecologic transparent in both countries. However, in a traditional reporting framework, the environmental committee is not enough; its effect was insignificant and highly significant in the integrated reporting framework. Further revealed is the significant positive effect of industry membership influence on environmental disclosure. In all estimated models of South Africa sample show that 45% of environmentally sensitive industries significantly influence environmental disclosure, while 51% is environmentally polluting industries in Nigeria show less concern on environmental disclosure. Interestingly, Audit firm size (Big4) positively and statistically significantly associated with overall environmental reporting in both countries. The results are consistent with stakeholder theory, agency theory, institutional and legitimacy theory suggesting that a strong board size, independent members of the board with auditing experience, the active environmental committee in conjunction with solid audit reputation may reduce information asymmetry. Our findings will be helpful for policymakers and other regulators who are interested in environmental impact reporting.

Rosavin, a phenylpropanoid in Rhodiola rosea's rhizome, an adaptogen, is known for enhancing the body's response to environmental stress. It significantly affects cellular metabolism in health and many diseases, particularly influencing bone tissue metabolism. In vitro, rosavin inhibits osteoclastogenesis, disrupts F-actin rings formation, and lowers osteoclastogenesis-related gene expression (cathepsin K, CTR, TRAF6, TRAP, MMP-9). It also impedes NFATc1, c-Fos, NF-κB, and MAPK signaling pathways, and blocks phosphorylation processes crucial for bone resorption. Moreover, rosavin promotes osteogenesis, osteoblast differentiation and increases Runx2 and OCN expression. In vivo studies show its effectiveness in enhancing BMD in PMOP mice, re-straining osteoclast maturation, and increasing active osteoblast percentage in bone tissue. It modulates mRNA expressions (increasing EEF2 and decreasing HDAC1, thereby activating os-teoprotective epigenetic mechanisms) and alters various serum markers, including decrease of CTX-1, TRAcp5b, RANKL, M-CSF, TRAP, and increase of ALP and OCN. Additionally, when combined with zinc and probiotics, it reduces pro-osteoporotic MMP-3, IL-6, TNF-α, and en-hances anti-osteoporotic IL-10 and TIMP3 expressions. This paper aims to systematically review rosavin's impact on bone tissue metabolism, exploring its potential in osteoporosis prevention and treatment, and suggesting future research directions.

This review explores the transformative impact of sensor technologies in early disease detection. It highlights recent advancements in nanotechnology-based sensors, particularly focusing on their applications in identifying disease biomarkers at early stages. The integration of these sensors with artificial intelligence for predictive analytics in healthcare is also discussed. Applications in cancer, infectious diseases, and chronic disease management underscore their diverse utility. Challenges in sensor technology adoption and future directions, including multiplexed sensors and wearable devices, are examined. This review underscores sensors' potential in enhancing disease management and patient outcomes.

Herpesvirus is a prevalent pathogen that primarily infects human epithelial cells and has the ability to reside in neurons. In the field of otolaryngology, herpesvirus infection primarily leads to hearing loss and vestibular neuritis, and is considered the primary hypothesis regarding the pathogenesis of vestibular neuritis. In this review, we provide a summary of the effects of herpes virus on cellular processes in both host cells and immune cells, with a focus on HSV-1 as illus-trative examples.

Energy demand has exponentially increased with the increase in the world population and ur-banization. Renewable energy is clean, renewable, and environmentally friendly. Hydrogen production through Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) electrolyzer is an efficient way to produce renewable energy. The efficiency and energy consumption of the PEM electrolyzer depends on the feed water quality. In this report, we study the effect of pH, TDS, and conductivity on hydrogen production as well as energy consumption during the process. pH values (3, 7, 9), TDS values (300ppm, 600ppm, 900ppm), and conductivity values (30mS/cm, 70mS/cm, 100mS/cm) were studied to understand and optimize the hydrogen production using PEM electrolyzer. The in-vestigations showed that hydrogen production is significantly affected by pH, total dissolved solids, and conductivity, and the best levels of each variable were identified by extensive testing. The findings show both the scientific significance of proton exchange electrolysis in meeting the growing energy demands of society as well as the importance of knowing the influence that di-verse conditions have on the creation of hydrogen. Our research, in general, contributes to the expanding body of scientific knowledge on the topic of the effective production of hydrogen and offers useful insights for the continuation of investigation in this field.

The article is aimed at a brief comparison and analysis of the results of queries to IEEE Xplore and the leading abstract databases Scopus and Web of Science to identify research trends. Some errors in the Author Keywords in Web of Science have been revealed. Therefore, a more detailed analysis was conducted by comparing different types of key terms for IEEE Xplore and Scopus platforms only. I used IEEE Access journal metadata as indexed on both platforms. The sample match for IEEE Xplore and Scopus was achieved by comparing DOI. The IEEE Xplore metadata contains more types of key terms, which provides an advantage in analyzing research trends. Using NSPEC Controlled Terms from expert-compiled vocabulary provides a more stable data, which gives an advantage when considering the change of terms over time. Apriori, an algorithm for finding association rules, has been used to compare co-occurrence of terms for a more detailed description of sample subjects on both platforms. VOSviewer was used to analyze trends in scientific research based on IEEE Xplore data. The 2011-2021 ten-year period was divided into two sub-intervals for comparing the occurrence of Author Keywords, IEEE Terms, and NSPEC Controlled Terms. Using the IEEE conference proceedings bibliometric data, I illustrated the importance of context in estimating the rate of growth of publishing activity on a topic of interest.

Intravitreal injection is the gold standard therapeutic option for posterior segment pathologies, and long-lasting release is necessary to avoid reinjections. There is no effective intravitreal treatment for glaucoma or other optic neuropathies in daily practice, nor is there a non-invasive method to monitor drug levels in the vitreous. Here we show that a glaucoma treatment combining a hypotensive and neuroprotective intravitreal formulation (IF) of brimonidine-Laponite (BRI/LAP) can be monitored non-invasively using vitreous imaging captured with optical coherence tomography (OCT) over 24 weeks of follow-up. Qualitative and quantitative characterization was achieved by analysing the changes in vitreous (VIT) signal intensity, expressed as a ratio of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) intensity. Vitreous hyperreflective aggregates mixed in the vitreous and tended to settle on the retinal surface. Relative intensity and aggregate size progressively decreased over 24 weeks in treated rat eyes as the BRI/LAP IF degraded. VIT/RPE relative intensity and total aggregate area correlated with brimonidine levels measured in the eye. The OCT-derived VIT/RPE relative intensity may be a useful and objective marker for non-invasive monitoring of BRI/LAP IF.

The importance of detecting and diagnosing the imminence of aneurysm rupture before it occurs cannot be overstated. However, this process is often time-consuming and challenging, with variability in conclusions not uncommon among experts. Furthermore, current state-of-the-art models in medical image segmentation suffer from limited availability of large annotated datasets for training, exacerbated by an immense data imbalance. In most segmentation tasks, 3D segmentation is preferred due to its capacity to leverage more contextual information. However, these models require more data, which is constrained by the aforementioned issues. In the realm of current diagnosis models, those lacking geographic context are notably ineffective. To address these issues, the aim is to develop a model pipeline to accurately detect cerebral intracranial aneurysms and diagnose rupture imminence through 3D magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) and tabular input, augmented with the implementation of neuro-symbolic ai. The utilization of data fusion to tackle the lack of context in tabular models is proposed, leveraging extracted geographical features from a segmentation model. To enhance segmentation results and tackle the data imbalance in aneurysm segmentation, a two-stage model pipeline that extracts contextual geographic features before aneurysm segmentation is suggested. Segmentation results are additionally improved through ensemble techniques and novel preprocessing techniques. Finally, a neuro-symbolic aspect is introduced to enhance model diagnosis, interpretability and performance. The multi-step Integrated Neuro-Symbolic Analysis Pipeline for Cerebral Aneurysm Rupture Diagnosis is introduced.

Within the past few decades, thousands of experiments have been performed to characterize waste and biomass to estimate the bioenergy potential and product identification. There is a need to develop an integrated process model based on experimental literature, and simulation to obtain suitable products. In this study municipal solid waste (MSW) characterization and integrated process model have been developed to optimize final products in a reactor system. The process model has two modes R&amp;D and reactor control (RC) to obtain suitable products including bio-oil, char, and gases. A database was integrated based on thermokinetics, machine learning and simulation models to optimize product efficiency. The experimental data includes thermogravimetric analysis, Fourier transform Infrared Spectroscopy, Gas chromatography, and Mass spectrometry, which are linked with pyrolysis experimental setup. Feedstock-product mapping models were incorporated into the database along with the temperature, heating rates, elemental analysis, and final product concentration, which are utilized for pyrolysis reactor setup. Product feasibility is conducted based on lifecycle cost, affordability, and product efficiency. The present work will bridge the gap between experimental study and decision making based on obtained products at several experimental conditions around the world.

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is increasingly adopted in supporting Facility Management (FM). However, in the future perspective of efficiently encouraging the management of building estates, e.g. owned by public authorities or institutions, providing an effective integration between Building Information Models and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) becomes also essential. This contribution is therefore aimed at presenting a methodological framework integrating BIM and GIS environments by mainly taking advantage of open-source tools (e.g. QGIS and Dynamo) and non-proprietary data exchange formats like the COBie (Construction-Operations Building Information Exchange) international standard. Unlike what has been mainly proposed in the literature concerning BIM-GIS integration so far, the methodology presented in this paper does not provide for an integral transfer of BIM data to the GIS platform. The work led instead to the development of an effective bidirectional integration between the two informative systems, by properly relating them and allowing for an easy switch from one system database to the other. This integrated framework is intended to enable facility managers to easily visualize in the GIS platform, through queryable 2D and 3D maps, some relevant information from BIM to efficiently manage workspaces. At the same time, this hybrid informative system allows BIM practitioners to access and manage more detailed information stored in Building Information Models. The findings of experimental applications of the proposed methodological approach to the ex-Macciotta pediatric hospital, a healthcare building owned by the University of Cagliari, are finally presented and discussed.

One of the future challenges of increasing the harnessed solar power is efficiency using of CubeSat sides. One of the approaches is using integrated antenna systems with solar panels or payloads. This study proposes a new approach to the use of integrated antenna systems in remote sensing missions. In this approach, due to the integration of antenna system with payload (in our case, with camera), it is possible to achieve a significant increase in the power generation. Calculations are carried out for cases when the antenna system are integrated with the optical system (α = 0°), which implies that they use one plane, in the second case they are spaced at an angle of α = 90° and in the third case when they are directed to opposite sides (α =180°). In the case of α = 0°, where the camera and antenna module are aligned co-axially, there is no energy expenditure for CubeSat orientation. However, in the other two cases, energy is required for rotation and maintenance of the specified orientation throughout the entire duration of the satellite's flight over the ground station, amounting to 111.99 mW when α = 90° and 44.33 mW when α = 180°.

Abstract: With the continuous integration of various energy systems and the reform of energy trading marketization, the traditional power demand response can no longer meet the needs of multi-energy coupling. For the joint response problem of multi-energy, this paper proposes a comprehensive demand response optimization incentive model considering the user response characteristics, with the complete energy service providers and multiple users as the participants of the comprehensive demand response, to solve the response strategy for the optimal goal of all parties. The implementation architecture of integrated demand response and the electrothermal energy hub model is introduced first. Secondly, the integrated demand response collaborative optimization strategy of the integrated energy service providers and users is established, and the existence and uniqueness of the optimal solution are proved. Finally, the example analysis demonstrates that the proposed strategy can reduce the integrated energy service providers' response cost and user dissatisfaction under multiple scenarios.

The problem of blood delivery has been a critical concern in past decades. However, the unsteady behavior of blood donors, along with the uncertainties associated with demands in a crisis imposes several challenges for resource management. In this research work, we analyze the blood delivery behavior in a crisis modeled by coupled queues of patients and blood sources. Using Markovian modeling and results associated with G-network, we derive two critical probabilities, namely lack of unit of blood (unit of donations) or not having any storage capacity left to accept new donors' blood. We propose a closed-form solution to calculate the optimal blood storage size, and also we suggest sufficient conditions that guarantee the feasibility of the model. Finally, we conduct a sensitivity analysis to investigate the impact of model parameters on storage size and the proportion of time that storage is full.

This thesis presents the effects of work done on a software project for generative models and spreadsheets, allowing for a quick creation of the conceptual model of the aircraft. The subject of the work is a response to the current trends and needs prevailing in the field of computer design engineering CAD and aviation. In the initial chapters, theoretical issues related to the work being carried out were introduced and the methodology of creating software for construction and verification of the structure of aircraft along with the needs of interchange between databases of generative models was presented. In the next stages, the concepts and selected solutions for the user interface supporting the knowledge base were presented along with a set of procedures for its operation. Furthermore, the method of database integration with the methods of determining design features for the developed generative models and with the Siemens NX system. Furthermore, problems encountered in software development, as well as solution examples for model application are specified. The results obtained and the models generated on their basis were subjected to a strength analysis using Autodesk Inventor software and analysed in terms of meeting the initial assumptions. In the end, conclusions and observations resulting from the effects of the work presented in the project were formulated.

We experimentally investigate power-sensitive photo-thermal tuning (PTT) of two-dimensional (2D) graphene oxide (GO) films coated on integrated optical waveguides. We measure the light power thresholds for reversible and permanent GO reduction in silicon nitride (SiN) waveguides integrated with 1 and 2 layers of GO. Raman spectra at different positions of a hybrid waveguide with permanently reduced GO are characterized, verifying the inhomogeneous GO reduction along the direction of light propagation through the waveguide. The differences between the PTT induced by a continuous-wave laser and a pulsed laser are also compared, confirming that the PTT mainly depend on the average input power. These results reveal interesting features for 2D GO films coated on integrated optical waveguides, which are of fundamental importance for the control and engineering of GO’s properties in hybrid integrated photonic devices.

Multichannel EEGs were obtained from healthy participants in the eyes-closed no-task condition (where the alpha component is typically abolished). EEG dynamics in the two conditions were quantified with two related binary Lempel-Ziv measures of the first principal component and with three measures of integrated information including the more recently proposed integrated synergy. Both integrated information and integrated synergy with model order p=1 had greater values in the eyes closed condition. If the model order of integrated synergy was determined with the Bayesian Information Criterion, this pattern was reversed, and in common with other measures, integrated synergy was greater in the eyes open condition. Eyes open versus eyes closed separation was quantified by calculation of the between-condition effect size. Lempel-Ziv complexity of the first principal component showed greater separation than the measures of integrated information. The performance of the integrated information measures investigated here when distinguishing between indisputably different physiological states encourages caution when advocating for their use as measures of consciousness.

Increasing attention has been paid to the potential probiotic effects of Latilactobacillus sakei. To explore the genetic diversity of L. sakei, 14 strains isolated from different niches (feces, fermented kimchi and meat products) and 54 published strains were compared and analyzed. The results showed that the average genome size and GC content of L. sakei were 1.98Mb and 41.22%, respectively. Its core genome mainly encodes translation and transcription, amino acid synthesis, glucose metabolism and defense functions. L. sakei has an open pan-genomic characteristics, and its pan-gene curve shows an upward trend. L. sakei has open pan-genome feature, and its pan-genome curve is on the rise. The genetic diversity of L. sakei is mainly reflected in carbohydrate utilization, antibiotic tolerance, and immune/competition-related factors, such as clustering regular interval short palindromic repeat sequence (CRISPR)-Cas. The CRISPR system is mainly IIA type, and a few are IIC types. This work provides a basis for the study of this species.

The exponential growth of population and the consistent food demand has compelled humanity to seek alternatives to traditional farming and innovative technologies to increase production. Exploring offshore for natural resources and alleviating pressure on land has been an ongoing research field, especially in the energy and aquaculture sector. However, the idea of floating farming is still in its infancy and requires significant innovations. The work presented here shed further light on this area by proposing a comprehensive model of ‘Integrated, multicultural, Multileveled Floating Farm (MFF).’ Various aspects of planning, design, constructions and operations of such MFF are discussed. An integrated waste management system is proposed to improve sustainability. The conceptual design and associated financial analysis demonstrated that such integration of various modes of farming could be profitable and sustainable at the same time. The cost estimation and profit analysis are presented in the context of Singapore, and a conservative approach is followed for the calculation. However, the model can easily be extended for application in other countries.

In the last couple of years, the implementation of long-read sequencing (LRS) technologies for transcriptome profiling has uncovered an extreme complexity of viral gene expression. In this study, we carried out a systematic analysis on the pseudorabies virus transcriptome by combining our current data obtained by using Pacific Biosciences Sequel and Oxford Nanopore Technologies MinION sequencings with our earlier data generated by other LRS and short-read sequencing techniques. As a result, we identified a number of novel genes, transcripts, and transcript isoforms, including splice and length variants, and also confirmed earlier annotated RNA molecules. One of the major findings of this study is the discovery of a large number of 5’-truncated putative mRNAs embedded into larger host mRNAs. A large fraction of these RNA molecules contain in-frame ORFs, which may encode N-terminally truncated polypeptides. These study demonstrates that the PRV transcriptome is much more complex than previously appreciated.

At container terminals, many cargo handling processes are interconnected and take place in parallel. Within short time windows, many operational decisions need to be taken considering both time and equipment efficiency. During operation, many sources for disturbance exist. These are the reason why perfectly coordinated processes are possibly unraveled. An approach that considers disturbance factors while optimizing a given objective is simulation-based optimization. This study analyses simulation-based optimization as a procedure to simultaneously scale the number of utilized equipment and to adjust the choice and tuning of operational policies. The four meta-heuristics Tree-structured Parzen Estimator, Bayesian Optimization, Simulated Annealing, and Random Search guide the simulation-based optimization process. The results show that simulation-based optimization is suitable to identify the amount of required equipment and well-performing policies. Thereby, there is no clear ranking which of the meta-heuristics finds the best approximation of the optimum. The approximated optima suggest that pooling terminal trucks as well as a yard block assignment close to the quay crane is preferable. With an increasing number of quay cranes, the number of optimal terminal trucks for each quay crane decreases as well as the range of truck utilization within one experiment.

The integrated stress response (ISR) is an adaptational signaling pathway that is induced in response to different stimuli, such as accumulation of unfolded and misfolded protein, hypoxia, amino acid deprivation, viral infection and ultraviolet light. It has been known that viral infection can activate ISR, but the role of ISR during viral infection is still unclear. In some cases, ISR is a protective mechanism of host cell against infection with virus whilst ISR may be hijacked by viruses for facilitating its replication. In this review, we highlighted recent advances on induction of ISR upon viral infection and the downstream responses involved such as autophagy, apoptosis, formation of stress granules and innate immunity response. We then discussed the molecular mechanism of ISR regulating viral replication and how viruses antagonize this cellular stress response resulting from ISR.

Besides the increase in global energy demand, access to clean energy, reduction in greenhouse gas emissions caused by conventional power generation sources, energy security, and availability of electricity in remote villages in emerging nations are some of the factors that foster the use of renewable energy sources (RESs) in generating electricity. One of the aims of initiating microgrids (MGs) is to maximize the benefits of RES and alleviate the associated grid integration issues. Microgrids are made up of RES connected to electrical loads within clearly delineated electrical limits that operate as individual controllable units on the electrical network. It can operate in-dependently as well as in connection with the grid. The paper presents an overview of microgrids and investigates the system's performance when connected to and disconnected from the grid. Furthermore, in both modes of operation, the functioning and behavior of system components such as the bidirectional DC-DC converter and energy storage system (ESS) were evaluated. The architecture of the proposed microgrid consists of a small hydropower plant, a wind farm, and a battery energy storage system (BESS). The microgrid under investigation is modeled and simu-lated using MATLAB and Simulink.

We aimed to determine if infection-associated urine biomarkers can differentiate true urinary tract infection (UTI) from non-UTI controls. Midstream clean-catch urine samples were collected from asymptomatic volunteers and symptomatic subjects > 60 years old diagnosed with presumptive UTI in a specialty setting. Microbial identification and density were assessed using multiplex PCR/pooled antibiotic susceptibility test (M-PCR/P-AST) and standard urine culture (SUC). Three biomarkers (NGAL, IL-8, and IL-1β) were measured in the same urine specimens. Definitive UTI cases were symptomatic and had positive microorganism detection by SUC and M-PCR, while definitive non-UTI cases were asymptomatic volunteers regardless of microbial detection. We observed a strong positive correlation (R2 ≈ 1) between microbial density and the biomarkers NGAL, IL-8, and IL-1β. Biomarker consensus criteria of two or more positive biomarkers had sensitivity 90.2%, specificity 91.2%, positive predictive value (PPV) 91.7%, negative predictive value (NPV) 89.7%, accuracy 90.7%, positive likelihood ratio of 10.28, and negative likelihood ratio of 0.11 in differentiating definitive UTI from non-UTI cases, regardless of microbial density. NGAL, IL-8, and IL-1β showed a significant elevation in symptomatic cases with positive microbe identification compared to asymptomatic cases with or without microbe identification. Biomarker consensus exhibited high accuracy in distinguishing UTI from non-UTI cases.

The populations of clearwing moth borers in Korea have recently exploited and severe damage on pin oaks (Quercus palustris Munchh.). We conducted the field monitoring and the molecular analyses to identify them in an integrated manner. Morphological examination and molecular analyses on COI-gene based intra-and inter-specific genetic divergences (GD) were revealed that the borers were recognized as two invasive species, Sphecodoptera sheni and Paranthrenella pinoakula sp. nov.. The maximum intraspecific GD was found to be 1.9%, whereas the minimum interspecific GD was confirmed as 8.1%, with a distinct barcoding gap. Both MJ network and NJ tree were also showed that 18 haplotypes (HAPs) were detected from the 52 COI sequences. The borers were revealed total 17 HAPs: i) H1-H7 were detected from all seven regions with S. sheni; ii) Wonju and Goyang populations of S. sheni were revealed as more than three HAPs; iii) H7 was closely connected with H8 of Chinese population of S. sheni; iv) H9-H10 were detected as the other samples from Wonju population with P. pinoakula sp. n., and closely located with congeneric species. Maximum likelihood tree also revealed that P. pinoacula sp. n. nested within the congeneric species by genetically separating from the S. sheni.