Fatty acids (FAs) represent an important class of metabolites, impacting on membrane building blocks and cellular regulatory networks. In nature, prokaryotes are characterized with the most impressing FA structural diversity and the highest relative contents of free fatty acids (FFAs). Thereby, nitrogen-fixing bacteria (order Rhizobiales), often found in symbiosis with legumes, attract a special interest. Indeed, FAs impact on the structure of rhizobial nodulation factors, required for successful infection of plant root. Although the FA patterns can be addressed by GC- and LC-MS, these methods are time-consuming and suffer from compromised sensitivity, low stability of derivatives and artifacts. In contrast, MALDI-TOF-MS represents an excellent platform for high-efficient metabolite fingerprinting, also applicable to FFAs. Therefore, here we propose a simple and straightforward protocol for high-throughput relative quantification of FFAs in rhizobia by the combination of Langmuir technology and MALDI-TOF-MS, which is featured with high sensitivity, accuracy and precision of quantification. Here we propose a step by step procedure comprising rhizobia culturing, pre-cleaning, extraction, sample preparation, mass spectrometric analysis, data processing and post-processing. To demonstrate the analytical potential of the protocol we illustrate it by a case study – comparison the FFA metabolomes of two rhizobia species - Rhizobium leguminosarum and Sinorhizobium meliloti.

MAPLE (matrix assisted pulsed laser evaporation) depositions of Candida Rugosa lipase were carried out from ice matrices whose composition is optimized in order to minimize conformational damage of the protein, which strongly influences its catalytic activity. To induce lid opening and to protect lipase during the MAPLE process, pentane and m-DOPA amino acid were added to the liquid matrix giving a target formed by a frozen water-lipase-pentane microemulsion. FTIR and AFM were used to investigate the structure of MAPLE deposited lipase films. The ability of MAPLE films to promote transesterification was determined by thin layer chromatography. It was shown that m-DOPA has influence on the aggregation but not on the unfolding of lipase induced by MAPLE, while the microemulsion formed by the addition of pentane to the target composition is effective in protecting lipase during the MAPLE process. MAPLE deposited lipases showed a modified specificity.

In laser-assisted milling, higher temperature in shear zone softens the material potentially resulting in a shift of mean residual stress, which significantly affects the damage tolerance and fatigue performance of product. In order to guide the selection of laser and cutting parameters based on the preferred mean residual stress, inverse analysis is conducted by predicting residual stress based on guessed process parameters, which is defined as the forward problem, and applying iterative gradient search to find process parameters for next iteration, which is defined as the inverse problem. An analytical inverse analysis is therefore proposed for the mean residual stress in laser-assisted milling. The forward problem is solved by analytical prediction of mean residual stress after laser-assisted milling. The residual stress profile is predicted through the calculation of thermal stress, by treating laser beam as heat source, and plastic stress by first assuming pure elastic stress in loading process, then obtaining true stress with kinematic hardening followed by the stress relaxation. The variance-based recursive method is applied to solve inverse problem by updating process parameters to match the measured mean residual stress. Three cutting parameters including depth of cut, feed per tooth, and cutting speed, and two laser parameters including laser-tool distance and laser power, are updated with respected to the minimization of resulting residual stress and measurement in each iteration. Experimental measurements are referred on the laser-assisted milling of Ti-6Al-4V grade 5 and ELI. The percentage difference between experiments and predictions is less than 5% for both materials, and the selection is completed within 50 loops.

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are often considered biomarkers of skin fibrosis. At the early stages of the pathological process, an elevation of their enzymatic activity causes significant changes in the composition of the extracellular matrix. MMPs secreted by immune cells facilitate their migration to the site of damage. Then, the immune cells eliminate the affected cells and biomolecules. Moreover, bidirectional changes in the activity of proteolytic enzymes, including MMPs, accompany wound healing. This study aimed to assess changes in the expression of Mmp2, Mmp3, and Mmp9 after treating the mice with laser therapy using the experimental model of bleomycin-induced skin fibrosis. Using immunohistochemistry, we characterized the histological features of scarred skin. We also analyzed changes in the expression of MMPs using real-time polymerase chain reaction before and after the irradiation with laser. We showed that treatment of the mice with CO2 laser partially normalized the histological features of scarred skin. We also noticed a decrease in the expression of Mmp2, Mmp3 (both p < 0.05), and Mmp9 (p = 0.065) during scar healing. The obtained results suggest that normalization of skin homeostasis requires a control of MMPs activities via induction of their genes.

Infertility affects approximately 15% of couples worldwide, an estimated 30% of which is related to male factor infertility. Application of low level laser therapy (LLLT) to improve fertility status is a rapidly growing discipline in medicine. Laser therapy triggers a variety of biological processes through interaction with primary cellular photoacceptors. The present review aims at evaluating the literature available in the MEDLINE/ PubMed on cellular and molecular mechanisms of photobiomodulation in the domains of reproductive and veterinary medicine. We primarily focused on the clinical application of laser treatment on seminal quality, in particular its role in promoting spermatozoa motility, as well as the role of phototherapy in modulating assisted reproduction (ART). Additionally, we investigated the strength of evidence in support of the positive impact of photobiomodulation on facilitating ART.

Optical biopsy describes a range of medical procedures in which light is used to investigate disease in the body, often in hard-to-reach regions via optical fibres. Optical biopsies can reveal a multitude of diagnostic information to aid therapeutic diagnosis and treatment with higher specificity and shorter delay than traditional surgical techniques. One specific type of optical biopsy relies on Raman spectroscopy to differentiate tissue types at the molecular level and has been used successfully to stage cancer. However, complex micro-optical systems are usually needed at the distal-end to optimise the signal-to-noise properties of the Raman signal collected. Manufacturing these devices remains a critical challenge, particularly in a way suitable for large scale adoption. In this paper, we describe a novel fibre-fed micro-optic system designed for efficient signal delivery and collection during a Raman spectroscopy based optical biopsy. Crucially, we fabricate the device using a direct-laser-writing technique known as ultrafast laser assisted etching which is scalable and allows components to be aligned passively. The Raman probe has a sub-millimetre diameter and offers confocal signal collection with 71.3 ± 1.5% collection efficiency over a 0.8 numerical aperture. Proof of concept spectral measurements were performed on mouse intestinal tissue and compared with results obtained using a commercial Raman microscope.

In this paper, a novel permanent magnet-assisted synchronous reluctance machine (PMASynRM) with rare-earth PMs and ferrite magnets is proposed. The performance of PMASynRM is discussed with respected to the different magnet ratio of rare-earth PMs and ferrite magnets. Some characteristics including the flux density, output torque, cogging torque, output power, power factor, torque ripple, loss, efficiency, and demagnetization are calculated by 2-D finite element analysis (FEA). The analysis results show that the excellent performance can be obtained by using hybrid magnet of rare-earth PMs and ferrite magnets with the suitable magnet ratio, and provide some desirable cost-performance trade-off.

Composite fiber materials are superior materials due to their high strength and light weight. Composites reflect the properties of their constituents, which is proportional to the volume fraction of each phase. There are different fiber reinforcement types and each affects it’s flexural, tensile and compression strength. When selecting a composite for a specific application, the forces excreted on the composite must be known in order to determine the reinforcement type. Unidirectional fiber reinforcement will allow very strong load resistance but only in one direction where as a random orientated fiber reinforcement can resist less load but can maintain this quota in all directions. These materials are said to be anisotropic. Certain composite fibers, taking into consideration there weights, are physically stronger than conventional metals. This research deals with the analysis of three composite materials with different reinforcement types, volume fraction and phase content. It was found that material A (glass epoxy) was the strongest in the longitudinal direction with a flexural strength of 534 MPa in the longitudinal and 420 MPa in the transverse direction. The flexural stresses of material B (glass silicone) and material C (glass polyester) where both found in the 120 to 135 MPa range. Differences were due to their differences in matrix composition and reinforcement type.

Our work is regarding the analysis of land use changes, in the light of “saving soil” against the expansion due to unearned plus value of land: The loss of natural and agricultural surface in front of the expanding urban environment is a critical aspect of unsustainability of urban development, especially in the way it was carried out in the past decades. The measure of the physical transition of land use and characters from a more natural condition of land surface to a new artificial one, joint with a parallel analysis of the increase of land value due to such change is nowadays a major land-policy tool. The interplay of urban economics regulation with planning, reveals new key issues in urban governance and environmental preservation. In this paper it will be shown some experiment about the impact assessment of soil take, related with the seek of valorization of property inside the planning process. Our paper reports as well about the experimental activity carried out inside the MITO Lab of the Polytechnic of Bari, where reports about property values and environmental values have been produced, specially looking at the reality of the Apulia, a southern Italian Region, that is rich of farmlands and coastlines, often invaded by constructions with a severe loss of nature, landscape and ecosystems services.

Difficult-to-cut materials are being increasingly used in many industries because of their superior properties, including high corrosion resistance, heat resistance and specific strength. However, these same properties make the materials difficult to machine using conventional machining techniques. Laser-assisted milling (LAM) is one of the effective methods for machining difficult-to-cut materials. In laser-assisted milling machining occur after the workpiece is locally preheated using a laser heat source. Laser assisted machining has been studied by many researchers on flat workpiece or micro end-milling. However, there is no research on the curved shape using laser assisted milling. This study investigated the use of laser assisted milling to machine a three-dimensional curved shape workpiece based on NURBS. A machining experiment was performed on Inconel 718 using different tool paths (ramping, contouring) under various machining conditions. Finite elements analysis was conducted to determine the depth of cut. Cutting force, specific cutting energy and surface roughness characteristics were measured, analyzed and compared for conventional and LAM machining. LAM significantly improved these machining characteristics, compared to conventional machining. There results can be applied to the laser-assisted machining of various three-dimensional shapes.

Inspired by recent developments in wave propagation and scattering experiments with parity-time (PT) symmetric materials, we discuss reciprocity and representation theorems for 3D inhomogeneous PT-symmetric materials and indicate some applications. We start with a unified matrix-vector wave equation which accounts for acoustic, quantum-mechanical, electromagnetic, elastodynamic, poroelastodynamic, piezoelectric and seismoelectric waves. Based on the symmetry properties of the operator matrix in this equation, we derive unified reciprocity theorems for wave fields in 3D arbitrary inhomogeneous media and 3D inhomogeneous media with PT-symmetry. These theorems form the basis for deriving unified wave field representations and relations between reflection and transmission responses in such media. Among the potential applications are interferometric Green’s matrix retrieval and Marchenko-type Green’s matrix retrieval in PT-symmetric materials.

This study was designed for the first time to improve phenolic yield and antioxidant activity of ultrasonic-assisted extraction from Acer truncatum leaves (ATL) using response surface methodology, and phenolic composition in ATL extracted under the optimized condition were characterized by UPLC-QTOF-MS/MS. Solvent and extraction time were selected based on preliminary experiments, and a four-factors-three-levels central composite design was conducted to optimize solvent concentration (X₁), material-to-liquid ratio (X₂), ultrasonic temperature (X₃) and power (X₄) for an optimal total phenol yield (Y₁) and DPPH• antioxidant activity (Y₂). The results showed that the optimal combination was ethanol: water (v:v) 66.21%, material-to-liquid ratio 1:15.31 g/mL, ultrasonic temperature 60 °C, power 267.30 W, and time 30 min with three extractions, giving a maximal total phenol yield of 7593.62 mg gallic acid equivalent /100 g d.w. and a maximal DPPH• antioxidant activity of 74241.61 μmol Trolox equivalent/100 g d.w.. Furthermore, 22 phenolics were first identified in ATL extract obtained under the optimized conditions, indicating that gallates, gallotannins, quercetin, myricetin and chlorogenic acid derivatives were the main phenolic composition in ATL. What’s more, a gallotannins pathway existing in ATL from gallic acid to penta-O-galloyl-glucoside was interpreted. All these results provided practical information aiming at full utilization of phenolics in ATL, together with fundamental knowledge for further research.

Blood Concentrates (BCs) are autologous non-transfusional therapeutical preparations with biological properties applied in tissue regeneration. These BCs differ in the preparation method, in fibrin network architecture, growth factors release as well as in platelet/cell content. Methodological changes result in distinct matrices that can compromise their clinical effectiveness. The present study evaluated the influence of different g-forces and types of tubes in the release of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) from platelet-rich fibrin (PRF) as a function of time. The PRF-like samples were obtained with three g-forces (200, 400, and 800 x g) for 10 minutes in pure glass tubes or in polystyrene-clot activator tubes. Scanning and Transmission electron microscopy was used to morphometric analyzes of PRF’s specimens and flow cytometry was used to quantify VEGF slow release until 7 days. Our results showed that platelets were intact and adhered to the fibrin network, emitting pseudopods and in degranulation. The fibrin network was rough and twisted with exosomic granulations impregnated on its surface. An increase in the concentration of VEGF in the PRF supernatant was observed until 7 days for all g forces (200, 400 or 800 x g), with the highest concentrations observed with 200 x g, in both tubes, glass or plastic. Morphological analyzes showed a reduction in the diameter of the PRF fibers after 7 days. Our results showed that g-force interferes with the shape of the fibrin network in the PRF, as well as affect the release of VEGF stored into platelets. This finding may be useful in applying PRF to skin lesions, in which the rapid release of growth factors can favor the tissue repair process. Our observations point to a greater clarification on the methodological variations related to obtaining PRF matrices, as they can generate products with different characteristics and degrees of effectiveness in specific applications.

Lignin fibers typically influence the mixture performance of stone matrix asphalt (SMA), such as strength, stability, durability, noise level, rutting resistance, fatigue life, and water sensitivity. However, limited studies were conducted to analyze the influence of fibers on the percent voids in mineral aggregate in bituminous mixture (VMA) during the mixture design. This study analyzed the effect of different fibers and fiber contents on the VMA in SMA mixture design. A surface-dry condition method test and Marshall Stability test were applied on the SMA mixture with four different fibers (i.e., flocculent lignin fiber, mineral fiber, polyester fiber, blended fiber). The test results indicated that the bulk specific gravity of SMA mixtures and asphalt saturation decreased with the increasing fiber content, whilst the percent air voids in bituminous mixtures (VV), Marshall Stability and VMA increased. Mineral fiber had the most obvious impact on the bulk specific gravity of bituminous mixtures, while flocculent lignin fiber had a minimal impact. The mixture with mineral fiber and polyester fiber had significant effects on the volumetric properties, and, consequently, exhibited better VMA over the conventional SMA mixture with lignin fiber. Modified fiber content range was also provided, which will widen the utilization of mineral fiber and polyester fiber in the applications of SMA mixtures. The mixture evaluation suggested no statistically significant difference between lignin fiber and polyester fiber on the stability. The mineral fiber required a much larger fiber content to improve the mixture performance than other fibers. Overall, the results can be a reference to guide SMA mixture design.

High-frequency near-infrared diode laser provides high peak output, low heat accumulation, and efficient biostimulation. Although these characteristics are considered suitable for osteoarthritis (OA) treatment, the effect of high-frequency near-infrared diode laser in in vitro or in vivo OA models has not yet been reported. Therefore, we aimed to assess the biological effects of high-frequency near-infrared diode laser irradiation on IL-1β-induced chondrocyte inflammation in an in vitro OA model. Normal Human Articular Chondrocyte-Knee (NHAC-Kn) cells were stimulated with human recombinant IL-1β and irradiated with high-frequency near-infrared diode laser (910 nm, 4 or 8 J/cm2). The mRNA and protein expression of relevant inflammation- and cartilage destruction-related proteins was analyzed. IL-1β treatment significantly increased the mRNA levels of IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, MMP-1, MMP-3, and MMP-13. High-frequency near-infrared diode laser irradiation significantly reduced the IL-1β-induced expression of IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, MMP-1, and MMP-3. Similarly, high-frequency near-infrared diode laser irradiation decreased the IL-1β-induced increase in protein expression and secreted levels of MMP-1 and MMP-3. These results highlight the therapeutic potential of high-frequency near-infrared diode laser in OA.

In this paper, we deduce explicit formulas to evaluate the determinants of nonsymmetrical structure Toeplitz Bohemians by two determinants of specific Hessenberg Toeplitz matrices, which are linear combinations in terms of determinants of specific Hessenberg Toeplitz matrices. We get some new results very di¤erent from [Massimiliano Fasi, Gian Maria Negri Porzio, Determinants of normalized upper Hessenberg matrices, Electronic Journal of Linear Algebra, Volume 36, pp. 352-366, June 2020].

Animal-assisted interventions (AAI) use human-animal interactions to positive effect in various contexts including cancer care. This systematic literature review is the first part of a two-part paper series focusing on the research methods and quantitative results of AAI studies in oncology. We find methodological consistency in the use of canines as therapy animals, in the types of high-risk patients excluded from studies, and in the infection precautions taken with therapy animals throughout cancer wards. The investigated patient endpoints are not significantly affected by AAI, with the exceptions of improvements in oxygen consumption, quality of life, depression, mood, and satisfaction with therapy. The AAI field in oncology has progressed significantly since its inception and has great potential to positively impact future patient outcomes. To advance the field, AAI research in oncology should consistently improve the methodological design of studies, report data more completely, and focus on the therapy animal’s well-being.

By constructing a static map, the library robot can navigate and access documents autonomously, which greatly improves efficiency; however, for libraries where shelves can be moved, map changes do not allow for direct navigation, and also sensors such as radar and camera are relatively expensive, so we propose a low-cost navigation algorithm based on real-time ranging data and map matrices, and designed a mobile archive access robot. In order to obtain real-time distance data, nine near/long range sensors were mounted on the chassis and a composite digital filtering algorithm was designed based on different moving area characteristics; then the access task matrix and map matrix were designed based on the archive access task and the location characteristics of the archive shelf placement, the robot can rely on the range data to update the map matrix during the moving process, complete its own positioning, and use the task matrix The robot can use the task matrix to complete autonomous navigation and access to multiple files. Experiments show that the filtered positioning accuracy can reach 1cm, while the robot can move to the target shelf autonomously, which is more practical and less costly.

Combining Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time-of-Flight (MALDI-TOF) spectra data and artificial intelligence (AI) has been introduced for rapid prediction on antibiotic susceptibility test (AST) of S. aureus. Based on the AI predictive probability, the cases with probabilities between low and high cut-offs are defined as “grey zone”. We aimed to investigate the underlying reasons of unconfident (grey zone) or wrong predictive AST. A total 479 S. aureus isolates were collected, analyzed by MALDI-TOF, and AST prediction, standard AST were obtained in a tertiary medical center. The predictions were categorized into the correct prediction group, wrong prediction group, and grey zone group. We analyzed the association between the predictive results and the demographic data, spectral data, and strain types. For MRSA, larger cefoxitin zone size was found in the wrong prediction group. MLST of the MRSA isolates in the grey zone group revealed that uncommon strain types composed 80%. Amid MSSA isolates in the grey zone group, the majority (60%) was composed of over 10 different strain types. In predicting AST based on MALDI-TOF AI, uncommon strains and high diversity would contribute to suboptimal predictive performance.

In this note we construct explicit complex and real matrix representations for the generators of real Clifford algebra $C\ell_{p,q}$. The representation is based on Pauli matrices and has an elegant structure similar to the fractal geometry. We find two classes of representation, the normal representation and exceptional one. The normal representation is a large class of representation which can only be expanded into $4m+1$ dimension, but the exceptional representation can be expanded as generators of the next period. In the cases $p+q=4m$, the representation is unique in equivalent sense. These results are helpful for both theoretical analysis and practical calculation. The generators of Clifford algebra are the faithful basis of $p+q$ dimensional Minkowski space-time or Riemann space, and Clifford algebra converts the complicated relations in geometry into simple and concise algebraic operations, so the Riemann geometry expressed in Clifford algebra will be much simple and clear.

Animal-assisted interventions (AAI) are a unique class of complementary medical treatments that can improve a patient’s quality of life, both physically and psychologically. Part I of this two-paper systematic literature review series focused on the study methods and quantitative results of researchers in this field. We continue this in-depth review here in Part II by discussing the common theories associated with AAI in the context of cancer. Of all the factors at work in human-animal interactions, researchers explicitly cite compatible animal personality, physical touch, physical movement, distraction/entertainment, and increased human interaction as the mechanisms responsible for the positive clinical outcomes observed in AAI. In various combinations, these mechanisms group under broader theoretical frameworks that attempt to fully explain the AAI context as it relates to cancer care. The social support hypothesis and the conception of a human-animal bond are the most referenced overarching frameworks. The cognitive activation theory of stress, the science of unitary human beings, and the self-object hypothesis are also referenced. We briefly consider other relevant theories commonly noted in the human-animal interactions literature that have the potential to clarify aspects of cancer-related AAI. We also discuss the neurobiological transduction mechanisms needed to connect theoretical frameworks and their mechanisms directly to the observed clinical outcomes. To advance the field, researchers should consider overarching theories with testable hypotheses when designing studies, and use consistent terminology when reporting results. This review lays a foundation for progress towards a unified theoretical framework and for effective treatment of the whole cancer patient.

We construct admissible circulant Laplacian matrix functions as generators for strictly increasing random walks on the integer line. These Laplacian matrix functions refer to a certain class of Bernstein functions. The approach has connections with biased walks on digraphs. Within this framework, we introduce a space-time generalization of the Poisson process as a strictly increasing walk with discrete Mittag-Leffler jumps subordinated to a (continuous-time) fractional Poisson process. We call this process ‘space-time Mittag-Leffler process’. We derive explicit formulae for the state probabilities which solve a Cauchy problem with a Kolmogorov-Feller (forward) difference-differential equation of general fractional type. We analyze a “well-scaled” diffusion limit and obtain a Cauchy problem with a space-time convolution equation involving Mittag-Leffler densities. We deduce in this limit the ‘state density kernel’ solving this Cauchy problem. It turns out that the diffusion limit exhibits connections to Prabhakar general fractional calculus. We also analyze in this way a generalization of the space-time fractional Mittag-Leffler process. The approach of construction of good Laplacian generator functions has a large potential in applications of space-time generalizations of the Poisson process and in the field of continuous-time random walks on digraphs.

Organisms in the wild have cryptic life stages that are sensitive to changing environmental conditions and can be difficult to survey. In this study, I used mark-recapture methods to repeatedly survey Anaea aidea (Nymphalidae) caterpillars in nature, then modeled caterpillar demography as a hidden Markov process to assess if temporal variability in temperature and density influence the survival and growth of A. aidea over time. Individual encounter histories result from the joint likelihood of being alive and observed in a particular stage, and I included hidden states by separating demography and observations into parallel and independent processes. I constructed a demographic matrix containing the probabilities of all possible fates for each stage, including hidden states, e.g., eggs and pupae. I observed both dead and live caterpillars with high probability. Peak caterpillar abundance attracted multiple predators, and survival of fifth instars declined as per capita predation rate increased through spring. A time lag between predator and prey abundance was likely the cause of improved fifth instar survival estimated at high density. Growth rates showed an increase with temperature, but the most likely model did not include temperature. This work illustrates how state-space models can include unobservable stages and hidden state processes to evaluate how environmental factors influence vital rates of cryptic life stages in the wild.

One of matrix equalities composed of multiple products of matrices and their generalized inverses is given by $A_1B_1^{-}A_2B_2^{-} \cdots A_kB_k^{-}A_{k+1}= A$ where $A_1$, $B_1$, $A_2$, $B_2$, $\ldots$, $A_k$, $B_k$, $A_{k+1}$, and $A$ are given matrices of appropriate sizes, and $B_1^{-}$, $B_2^{-}$, $\cdots$, $B_k^{-}$ are generalized inverses of matrices. The cases for $k = 1, 2$ and their special forms were properly approached in the theory of generalized inverses of matrices. In this note, the author presents an algebraic procedure to derive explicit necessary and sufficient conditions for the equality with $k = 3$ to always hold using certain rank equalities for the block matrices constructed by the given matrices, and then mention a key step of extending the previous work to a general situation.

The present paper discusses a study of a class of Charlier matrix polynomials and its generalized analogue. Certain generating matrix functions, recurrence matrix relations, matrix differential equation, summation formulas and many new results have been discussed for these matrix polynomials. Weisner's group theoretic method is used to obtain matrix generating relations for Charlier matrix polynomials and the details of this method were given in this paper. Finally, we will discuss only briefly the procedure followed.

Not a lot is known about either death or the dying process. Politicians and many in the medical profession in the UK tend to shy away from interfering with it by not allowing euthanasia as an end of life option for the patient. This is the first paper in a series of two, comparing the situation in human medicine and veterinary medicine, in which euthanasia is well practiced for relieving suffering at the end of an animal’s life. This first part takes the form of a literature review including best practice around end of life care, its deficiencies and the need for assisted dying. Veterinary surgeons are well trained in the ethics of euthanasia and put it to good use in the best interest of their animal patients. In countries which have legalized physician assisted suicide for the terminally ill reporting indicates that it works well, without increases in involuntary euthanasia and most importantly without intimidation of the vulnerable. However, there is still an ever increasing tendency to overuse sedation and opioids at the end of life, which merits further investigation. With advances in medical science able to significantly prolong the dying process, patient autonomy demands a review of the law in the UK.

: The effect that the microstructure exerts on the TRIP phenomenon and on the mechanical properties in a multiphase steel was studied. Samples of an initially cold-rolled ferrite-pearlite steel underwent different intercritical annealing treatments at 750 °C until an equal fractions of austenite/ferrite was reached; the intercritical treatment was followed by isothermal bainitic treatments before cooling the samples to room temperature. Samples in the first treatment were heated directly to the intercritical temperature, whereas other samples were heated to either 900 or 1100 °C to obtain a fully homogenized, single phase austenitic microstructure prior to the conducting the intercritical treatment. The high temperature homogenization of austenite resulted in the decrease in its stability, so a considerable austenite fraction transformed into martensite by cooling to room temperature after the bainitic heat treatment. Most of the retained austenite transformed during the tensile tests, and as a consequence, the previously homogenized steels showed the highest UTS. In turn, the steel with a ferritic-pearlitic initial microstructure, exhibited higher ductility than the other steels and texture components that favor forming processes.

A complex square matrix $A$ is said to be Hermitian if $A= A^{\ast}$, the conjugate transpose of $A$. The topic of the present note is concerned with the characterization of Hermitian matrix. In this note, the we show that each of the two triple matrix product equalities $AA^{\ast}A = A^{\ast}AA^{\ast}$ and $A^3 = AA^{\ast}A$ implies that $A$ is Hermitian by means of decompositions and determinants of matrices, which are named the two-sided removal and cancellation laws associated with Hermitian matrix, respectively. We also present several general removal and cancellation laws as the extensions of the preceding two facts about Hermitian matrix.

In this paper, we define Tetranacci and Tetranacci-Lucas matrix sequences and investigate their properties.

Electroless etching of semiconductors was elevated to an advanced micromachining process by the addition of a structured metal catalyst. Patterning of the catalyst by lithographic techniques facilitates the patterning of crystalline and polycrystalline wafer substrates. Galvanic deposition of metals on semiconductors has a natural tendency to produce nanoparticles rather than flat uniform films. This characteristic makes possible the etching of not only wafers but also particles with arbitrary shape. While it has been widely recognized that spontaneous deposition of metal nanoparticles can be used in connection with etching to porosify wafers, it is also possible to produced nanostructured powders. MACE can be controlled to produce (1) etch track pores with shapes and sizes closely related to the shape and size of the metal nanoparticle, (2) hierarchically porosified substrates exhibiting combinations of large etch track pores and mesopores, and (3) nanowires with either solid or mesoporous cores. This review discussed the mechanisms of porosification, processing advances and the properties of the etch product with special emphasis on the etching of silicon powders.

This is the second of a series of two papers comparing the end of life issues in human and veterinary medicine. We outline the main differences between human and animal patients such as patient communication, finance and ‘conflicts of interest’ between animal, owner and veterinarian. We discuss striking similarities between human and veterinary issues such as assessing quality of life and the primary role of the attending veterinarian or doctor being the welfare and care of the patient. This paper takes the form of an ethical argument in favour of allowing euthanasia in human medicine, by providing insights into end of life issues for humans from an independent veterinary perspective. Veterinary surgeons are well trained in the ethics of euthanasia and put it to good use in the best interest of their animal patients. Doctors in the UK are limited and unwilling to put forward a case for the option of euthanasia for those patients who face a slow and agonizing death. With advances in medical science being able to significantly prolong the dying process, autonomy for the patient demands a review of the law regarding patient choice in the UK.

One of the typical forms of linear matrix expressions (linear matrix-valued functions) is given by $A + B_1X_1C_1 + \cdots + B_kX_kC_k$, where $X_1, \ldots, X_k$ are independent variable matrices of appropriate sizes, which include almost all matrices with unknown entries as its special cases. The domain of the matrix expression is defined to be all possible values of the matrix expressions with respect to $X_1, \ldots, X_k$. I this article, we approach some problems on the relationships between the domains of two linear matrix expressions by means of the block matrix method (BMM), the matrix rank method (MRM), and the matrix equation method (MEM). As application, we discuss some topics on the relationships among general solutions of some linear matrix equations and their reduced equations.

Background: We assess locoregional drug targeting effectiveness of intraoperative (IO) cryoprobe-assisted injection of blue dye (BD) and cytotoxic-tracer mixture (TTM), in VX2 tumor model, and its translational value to cryo-assisted breast tumor surgery with BD alone. Methods: Under computed tomography (CT) guidance, we injected two ml TTM in five aliquots in the margin of 16 frozen or normothermic VX2 tumors. We evaluated the IO and post-operative drug targeting and therapeutic efficacy in tumor-host interface (T-HI) by CT, gross examination, and histopathology. In twenty-six T1 to T4 primary breast cancer (BRCA) we performed ultrasound-guided (US) cryoprobe-assisted tumor freezing, BD guided lymphatic mapping, and surgery. We evaluated, IO and in freshly resected specimen, BD distribution pattern in T-HI, lymph node(s), breast parenchyma, and resection cavity. Results: Fluids-impervious frozen VX2 or breast tumor transported drug(s) an arc-like pattern at T-HI regardless of freeze dose, number of freeze-thaw cycles, drug dose fractionation, tumor characteristics or dimensions. During melting, TTM spread within fifty percent VX2 tumor mirrored that of T-HI; it was massive in normothermia. In VX2 twenty percent focal margin necrosis at pathology coincided with CT gap; in both studies, BD dose-staining spread in T-HI and tumor was linear. Eighty-four patients had one to twelve stained axillary lymph nodes; sixty-nine percent and all respectively, had another quadrant and resection cavity stained. Conclusion: Intraoperative freezing-assisted drug delivery and targeting techniques during cryoablation of VX2 tumor translate successfully to locoregional BD targeting, lymphatic mapping during cryo-assisted surgery of breast cancer.

Parallel decompositions have proved to be powerful tools for the analysis and interpretation of the physical information provided by Mueller matrices experimentally obtained. In this work, the procedure for the so-called arbitrary decomposition of Mueller matrices is validated through its application to a set of representative experimentally determined Mueller matrices. The covariance and passivity criteria required for the physical realizability of the Mueller matrices involved in the parallel decompositions are integrated in the procedure, which ensures the physical consistency of the results presented.

Though the cancer research community has used mouse xenografts for decades more than zebrafish xenografts, zebrafish have much to offer: they are cheap, easy to work with, and the embryonic model is relatively easy to use in high-throughput assays. Zebrafish can be imaged live, allowing us to observe cellular and molecular processes in vivo in real time. Opponents dismiss the zebrafish model due to the evolutionary distance between zebrafish and humans, as compared to mice, but proponents argue for the zebrafish xenograft’s superiority to cell culture systems and its advantages in imaging. This review places the zebrafish xenograft in the context of current views on cancer and gives an overview of how several aspects of this evolutionary disease can be addressed in the zebrafish model. Zebrafish are missing homologs of some human proteins and (of particular interest) several members of the matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) family of proteases, which are known for their importance in tumour biology. This review draws attention to the implicit evolutionary experiment taking place when the molecular ecology of the xenograft host is significantly different than that of the donor.

Objective: The study aimed to explore the experiences of women undergoing Assisted Reproductive Technologies namely; Invitro Fertilization and Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection at the Finney Hospital and Fertility Centre, New Bortianor, Ghana. Method: A qualitative research design was employed to analyse and describe the experiences of the women seeking Assisted Reproductive Technologies. Fifteen women were invited and interviewed using a semi-structured interview guide. The responses were transcribed verbatim and analysed using content analysis. Results: Three themes emerged from the study: the women’s experiences, challenges and the roles and contributions of significant others. The women were anxious, stressed-up, exhausted and financially burdened. Spouses and health professionals played significant roles by providing social, emotional and financial support for these women. Significant others such as spouses and close relatives were supportive and provided encouragement to the women. Conclusion: The experiences of women undergoing Assisted Reproductive Technologies are multi-dimensional. Thus psychosocial intervention as part of ART services with health insurance cover may be client-centered and more appropriate for these group of women.

Reverse order laws for generalized inverses of matrix products is a classic object of study in the theory of generalized inverses. One of the well-known reverse order laws for a matrix product $AB$ is $(AB)^{(i,\ldots,j)} = B^{(s_2,\ldots,t_2)}A^{(s_1,\ldots,t_1)}$, where $(\cdot)^{(i,\ldots,j)}$ denotes an $\{i,\ldots, j\}$-generalized inverse of matrix. Because $\{i,\ldots, j\}$-generalized inverse of a singular matrix is unique, the relationships between both sides of the reverse order law can be divided into four situations for consideration. This paper provides a thorough coverage of the reverse order laws for $\{i,\ldots, j\}$-generalized inverses of $AB$, from the development of background and preliminary tools to the collection of miscellaneous formulas and facts on the reverse order laws in one place with cogent introduction and references for further study. We begin with the introduction of a linear mixed model $y = AB\beta + A\gamma + \epsilon$ and the presentation of two least-squares methodologies to estimate the fixed parameter vector $\beta$ in the model, and the description of connections between the two types of least-squares estimators and the reverse order laws for generalized inverses of $AB$. We then prepare some valued matrix analysis tools, including a general theory on linear or nonlinear matrix identities, a group of expansion formulas for calculating ranks of block matrices, two groups of explicit formulas for calculating the maximum and minimum ranks of $B^{(s_2,\ldots,t_2)}A^{(s_1,\ldots,t_1)}$, as well as necessary and sufficient conditions for $B^{(s_2,\ldots,t_2)}A^{(s_1,\ldots,t_1)}$ to be invariant with respect to the choice of $B^{(s_2,\ldots,t_2)}A^{(s_1,\ldots,t_1)}$. We then present a unified approach to the 512 matrix set inclusion problems associated with the above reverse order laws for the eight commonly-used types of generalized inverses of $A$, $B$, and $AB$ through use of the definitions of generalized inverses, the block matrix method (BMM), the matrix rank method (MRM), the matrix equation method (MEM), and various algebraic calculations of matrices.

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) supplies nourishment to about half of the population of the world's inhabitants. Of them, more than 2 billion people suffer from "hidden hunger" in which they are unable to meet the recommended nutrients or micronutrients from their daily dietary intake. Bio-fortification refers to developing micronutrient-rich diet foods using traditional breeding methods and modern biotechnology, a promising approach to nutrition enrichment as part of an integrated strategy for food systems. To improve the profile of rice grain for the biofortification related traits, understanding the genetics of important biofortification traits is required. Moreover, these attributes are quantitative in nature and are influenced by several genes and environmental variables. In the course of past decades, several endeavours such, as finding the important quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for improving the nutrient profile of rice seeds were successfully undertaken. In this review, we have presented the information regarding the QTLs identified for the biofortification traits in the rice.

Iyer Markoulakis Helmholtz Hamiltonian mechanics formalisms mathematically modeled physics with vortex rotational fields acting with gradient fields, typically in zero-point microblackhole general fields. Here, Helmholtz metrics have been gaged to Coulombic Hilbert metrics, representing Gilbertian and Amperian natures of electromagnetic fields out of the mechanical fields from Helmholtz Hamiltonian mechanics. This ansatz general gaging helps to properly isolate field effects – mechanical, electric, magnetic components within the analytical processes. Vacuum gravitational fields and the flavor Higgs-Boson matter inertial gravitational fields have been thus quantified extending to stringmetrics constructs matrix showing charge asymmetry gage metrics, having the power to analyze dark energy superluminal phase, dark matter luminal phase, and light matter subluminal phase. Interpreting particle physics gage matrix pointing to Dirac seas electrons, monopoles with positrons, electron-positron annihilation leading to energy production, relativistic energy generating matter, and both monopoles – vacuum and compressed out of vortex Helmholtz decomposition fields have been interpolated. Quantum ASTROPHYSICS gage metrix posits superluminal profile of signals velocity generating electron-positron chain like “curdling” action that is consistent with physics literature reporting nature electron photon observed oscillatory fields configurations. This helps proposing creation of neutrino antineutrino pair orthogonal to electron positron “curdling” planes, that may lead to formation of protonic hydrogen of stars or orthogonally muon. These aspects will explain receding or fast expanding universe with dark matter in terms of flavor metrics versus gage associating metrics flavor. Additional interpretations of virtual gravitational dipoles that have gravitational charge of opposite signs, reported per physics literature at Planck dimensions, that may originate at the center of supermassive blackhole. On the other hands, vacuum monopoles occur probably at infinity with cosmos extent.

Acoustic emission (AE) has proven to be a very useful technique for determining damage in ceramic matrix composites (CMCs). CMCs rely on various cracking mechanisms which enable non-linear stress-strain behavior with ultimate failure of the composite due to fiber failure. Since these damage mechanisms are all micro-fracture mechanisms, they emit stress waves ideal for AE monitoring. These are typically plate waves since for most specimens or applications one dimension is significantly smaller than the wavelength of the sound waves emitted. By utilizing the information of the sound waveforms captured on multiple channels from individual events, the location and identity of the sources can often be elucidated. The keys to the technique are the use of wide-band frequency sensors, digitization of the waveforms (modal AE), strategic placement of sensors to sort the data and acquire important contents of the waveforms pertinent for identification, and familiarity with the material as to the damage mechanisms occurring at prescribed points of the stress history. The AE information informs the damage progression in a unique way which adds to the understanding of the process of failure for these composites. The AE methodology was applied to composites tested in fatigue at different frequencies where identification of when and where AE occurred coupled with waveform analysis leads to source identification and failure progression.

The preparation of new materials based on starch for the development of biodegradable packaging is increasing, however, the poor properties of this biopolymer for this application causes an area of opportunities for the improvement of water vapour permeability (WVP), mechanical properties, thermal properties, hydrophilicity, water absorption, among others. Hence, starch has been combined with other polymers such as polyvinyl alcohol, which has shown an improvement in the mechanical properties of starch, also, the use of clays suggests that the properties of response to water can be improved. Therefore, in this work, the preparation and characterization of starch-PVA-nanoclay films prepared by solvent casting is reported. The results obtained suggest that the sonication of nanoclay is necessary to reach a good dispersion, which promotes a strong interaction among starch-PVA-nanoclay. In addition, the properties of WVP and mechanical properties of films improved with incorporation of nanoclay, the concentration of 0.5% w/v of nanoclay showed to be the best concentration due to concentrations of 1.0 and 1.5% w/v were poorer than 0.5% w/v. Accordingly, the successful incorporation of nanoclays into the matrix starch-PVA suggests that this material is a good candidate for use as packaging.

Cancer invasion through basement membranes represents the initial step of tumor dissemination and metastasis. However, little is known about how human cancer cells breach basement membranes. Here, we used a 3-dimensional in vitro invasion model consisting of cancer spheroids encapsulated by a basement membrane and embedded in 3D collagen gels to visualize the early events of cancer invasion by confocal microscopy and live-cell imaging. Human breast cancer cells generated large numbers of basement membrane perforations, or holes, of varying sizes that expanded over time during cell invasion. We used a wide variety of small molecule inhibitors to probe the mechanisms of basement membrane perforation and hole expansion. Protease inhibitor treatment (BB94), led to a 63% decrease in perforation size. After myosin II inhibition (blebbistatin), basement membrane perforation area decreased by only 15%. These treatments produced correspondingly decreased cellular breaching events. Interestingly, inhibition of actin polymerization dramatically decreased basement membrane perforation by 80% and blocked invasion. Our findings suggest that human cancer cells can primarily use proteolysis and actin polymerization to perforate the BM and to expand perforations for basement membrane breaching, with a relatively small contribution from myosin II contractility.

This research was presented the special designed microfluidic device generated for sperm separation based on assumption of different surface electrical charged of sperms X and Y. However, to avoid ethical problem, the microfluidic chip has been tested with the mimic electrical charged particles, TiO₂-coated Polystyrene beads, (TiO₂-coated Ps-beads), instead of spermatozoa. The work has been separated into three main parts. Firstly, the simply but efficient fabrication of negatively charged TiO₂-coated Ps-beads has been presented. In addition, various characterization techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), Tungsten Scanning Electron Microscopy (W-SEM) with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) mode, and X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS), have been reported in this work to elucidate the reasons behind the persistence of negatively charged on the surface of TiO₂-coated Ps-beads. Results show that the fabricated TiO₂-coated Ps-beads was partly coated in the mixed forms of amorphous Ti⁴⁺ and had caused a negatively charge to appear on the surface after fabrication and had sustained its electrical charged for long. Secondly, process of simulation and fabrication of microfluidic device was presented. Finally the negatively charged TiO₂-coated Ps-beads were tested in this microfluidic devices. For design of microfluidic devices integrated with a couple of microelectrodes, the simulated structures were fabricated by photolithographic technique and tested with the Ps-beads. Percentage of validation for Ps-beads separation indicated that the 100 mm-distance-between-electrodes microfluidic device exhibits to be the highest performance prototype at 86.96%. For further confirmation, another model so called the single path prototype has been established. It is confirmed by 92.59% of validation for the utilization of the device. The successfully designed microfluidic devices can be examined with actual spermatozoa later. Furthermore, process to fabricate the negatively charged TiO₂-coated Ps-beads can be established as testified samples for development of other microfluidic devices.

Excitation of the acoustic field leading to the Blaha effect affects the plasticity of the material significantly in ultrasonic vibration-assisted forming. In a micro-forming field, the effects are more significant in the deformation in surface of materials [1]-[3], in which reduction of the surface roughness based on the increasing of plastic deformation of surface asperity was effective [4]. On the other hand, the effect on deformation behavior of the bulk region indicted reduction in the yield stress of materials, and not only acoustic effect [5], but also impact effect is found to generate a large amount of dislocation and produce plastic deformation [6][7]. However, the effect on the bulk is more significant as that on the surface. Differences in the effect on the surface and the bulk are not clarified. In this study, the mechanism of the deformation in the surface of the material with ultrasonic vibration assistance is investigated and compared with that in the bulk. Forging tests using a newly developed ultrasonic vibrator were carried out on pure Cu foils with various process conditions. The longitudinal vibration frequency of the ultrasonic transducer is 60∓2kHz, and the vibration amplitude is in an adjustable range of 0~10μm. Forging test was carried out at different initial stress, specimen size and amplitude. The difference in acoustic softening and impact effects on the surface and the bulk was discussed.

It is shown that a Mueller quaternion can be formulated as a quaternion with matrix coefficients, and this Mueller quaternion transforms the Stokes quaternion for depolarizing process as well as for nondepolarizing process. Mueller quaternion keeps track of the phase acquired by the Stokes quaternion and, in general, quaternion states of optical media comprises all properties of Jones, Mueller-Jones and Mueller matrices.

This paper attempts to extend the Riemann Zeta function of a complex number to a function of a matrix and/or a tensor $A$, namely $$\zeta (A)=\sum _{n=1}^{\infty} \frac{1}{n^{A}}= \sum _{n=1}^{\infty} \sum_{k=1}^n\lambda_k A^k$$ and inverse $$A=\sum _{n=1}^{\infty} \sum_{k=1}^n \mu(n)\lambda_k \zeta(A^k)$$ where $\mu(n)$ is the M\"obius function, $A$ is a complex matrix or tensor with any order, and $\lambda_k$ is eigenvalue of the matri/tensor $A$. This kind of calculations on the Riemann Zeta function has never been seen in the literature. Some examples are provided.

Matrix metalloproteases (MMPS) are a family of well-known enzymes which operate prevalently in the extracellular domain, where they fulfil the function of remodeling the extracellular matrix. Within the about 26 family members, encoded by 24 genes in humans, MMP-2 and MMP-9, have been regarded as the primary responsibility for the basement membrane and pericellular ECM rearrangement. In cases of infiltrating carcinomas, which arise from the epithelial tissues of a gland or of an internal organ, a marked alteration of the expression and the activity levels of both MMPs is known to occur. Present investigation represents the continuation and upgrading of our previous studies, now focusing on the occurrence and intensity levels of MMP-2 and -9, and their proteomic correlations, in a cohort of 80 breast cancer surgical tissues

This note reconsiders a matrix equality $A_1A_2^{-}A_3A_4^{-}A_5 = A$ composed by six matrices of appropriate sizes, where $A_2^{-}$ and $A_4^{-}$ are generalized inverses of $A_2$ and $A_4$, respectively, and solves a selection of matrix set inclusion problems associated with various mixed reverse order laws for generalized inverses of products of two, three, and four matrices by means of this equality and its variations.

Conventional phenotyping breeding approaches for vegetable crops like Solanaceae, Bulb, Root crops, have made a significant contribution by developing many varieties. Despite this, conventional phenotyping approaches are not sufficient due to the longer time taken to develop a variety, low genetic gain, environmental factors and some other externalities that affect the phenotype-based selection. To address the challenges of conventional phenotype, a new recent method of high throughput phenotyping (HTP) is considered a promising tool. The development of high-throughput phenotyping technology began in the preceding decade as advancements in sensor, computer vision, automation, and advanced machine learning technologies. HTP platforms are being utilized to undertake non-destructive assessments of the complete plant system in a range of crops. HTP provides the precise measurements and suggests the collection of high-quality and accurate data which is necessary for standardizing phenotyping for the collection of genetic dissection and genomic assisted breeding such as genome-wide association studies (GWAS), linkage mapping, marker-assisted selection (MAS), genomic selection (GS). The remainder of this chapter discusses how high-throughput phenotyping technologies can be used in genomic-assisted breeding for vegetable crops

Aim: To develop an index for quantitative assessment of the upper limb motor function in children with cerebral palsy before and after robot-assisted therapy. Method: An upper limb motor function index was developed using kinematic, surface electromyography and three-axis inertial measurements unit data collected from 15 children with cerebral palsy (CP) and 15 typically developed children. Children with CP underwent 18 robot-assisted therapy sessions with the REAplan device. All children were evaluated, using kinematic data from the REAplan, electromyography and three-axis inertial measurements unit readings from its accelerometer. A principal component analysis was conducted to produce an evaluation index, which is able to detect the deviation from the upper limb motor function of typically developing children group. Children with CP were evaluated twice before and after the intervention with Box and Blocks test and Finger-To-Nose test. The discriminative and concurrent validity of the upper limb motor function index were investigated. Results: The upper limb motor function index was higher in children with CP post therapy (p<0.001). Finger-To-Nose test values improved after robot-assisted therapy (p<0.03). A weak but positive correlation was observed between upper limb motor function index and clinical tests (r=0.012, p=0.95 and r=0.13, p= 0.54 for Box and Blocks test and Finger-To-Nose test respectively). Interpretation: The upper limb motor function index successfully differentiated between the typically developing children and children with CP and was effective in assessing the improvement of the upper limb motor function after robot-assisted therapy. The upper limb motor function index could be extended to assess and monitor rehabilitation therapies of other populations, such as those with stroke and Parkinson’s disease.

In this paper, some mixed type bounds on the spectral radius $\rho(A\circ B)$ for the Hadamard product of two nonnegative matrices ($A$ and $B$) and the minimum eigenvalue $\tau(C\star D)$ of the Fan product of two $M$-matrices ($C$ and $D$) are researched. These bounds complement some corresponding results on the simple type bounds. In addition, a new lower bound on the minimum eigenvalue of the Fan product of several $M$-matrices is also presented: $$ \tau(A_{1}\star A_{2}\cdots\star A_{m})\geq \min_{1\leq i\leq n}\{\prod^{m}_{k=1}A_{k}(i,i)-\prod^{m}_{k=1}[A_{k}(i,i)^{P_{k}}-\tau(A_{k}^{(P_{k})})]^\frac{1}{P_{k}}\}, $$ where $A_{1},\ldots, A_{k}$ are $n\times n$ $M$-matrices and $P_{1},\ldots, P_{k}>0$ satisfy $\sum^{m}_{k=1}\frac{1}{P_{k}}\geq 1$. Some special cases of the above result and numerical examples show that this new bound improves some existing results.

Electric field assisted combustion is an important means to improve fuel combustion efficiency. This paper conducts extensive research on flame characteristics under different forms and different application methods of electric fields, emission of soot particles and simulation status. Different flame parameter measurement methods will lead to different degrees of error, and perfect numerical simulation can make simple predictions on experimental data. Most of the current numerical simulations are in two dimensions, and it is necessary to develop a complete and accurate three-dimensional model to simulate and predict the characteristics of the flame under an electric field. The emission of soot particles is also affected by the electric field, and reasonable electric field parameters can greatly reduce the emission of soot particles. It is recommended to conduct centralized measurement of different fuels under the electric field under high pressure and temperature conditions, so as to be able to develop a wider and more accurate flame dynamics and chemical model under the electric field.

The new barrier mode in Apache Spark allows embedding distributed deep learning training as a Spark stage to simplify the distributed training workflow. In Spark, a task in a stage doesn’t depend on any other tasks in the same stage, and hence it can be scheduled independently. However, several algorithms require more sophisticated inter-task communications, similar to the MPI paradigm. By combining distributed message passing (using asynchronous network IO), OpenJDK’s new auto-vectorization and Spark’s barrier execution mode, we can add non-map/reduce based algorithms, such as Cannon’s distributed matrix multiplication to Spark. We document an efficient distributed matrix multiplication using Cannon’s algorithm, which improves significantly on the performance of the existing MLlib implementation. Used within a barrier task, the algorithm described herein results in an up to 24% performance increase on a 10,000x10,000 square matrix with a significantly lower memory footprint. Applications of efficient matrix multiplication include, among others, accelerating the training and implementation of deep convolutional neural network based workloads, and thus such efficient algorithms can play a ground-breaking role in faster, more efficient execution of even the most complicated machine learning tasks

Background Bone fracture fixation surgery is one of the most commonly performed surgical procedures in the orthopedic field. However, fracture healing complications occur frequently, and the choice of the most optimal surgical approach often remains challenging. In the last years, computational tools have been developed with the aim to assist preoperative planning procedures of bone fracture fixation surgery. Objectives The aims of this review are (1) to provide a comprehensive overview of the state-of-the-art in computer-assisted preoperative planning of bone fracture fixation surgery, (2) to assess the clinical feasibility of the existing virtual planning approaches, and (3) to assess their clinical efficacy in terms of clinical outcomes as compared to conventional planning methods. Methods A literature search was performed in the MEDLINE-PubMed, Ovid-EMBASE, Ovid-EMCARE, Web of Science, and Cochrane libraries to identify articles reporting on the clinical use of computer-assisted preoperative planning of bone fracture fixation. Results 79 articles were included to provide an overview of the state-of-the art in virtual planning. While patient-specific geometrical model construction, virtual bone fracture reduction, and virtual fixation planning are routinely applied in virtual planning, biomechanical analysis is rarely included in the planning framework. 21 of the included studies were used to assess the feasibility and efficacy of computer-assisted planning methods. The reported total mean planning duration ranged from 22 to 258 minutes in different studies. Computer-assisted planning resulted in reduced operation time (Standardized Mean Difference (SMD): -2.19; 95% Confidence Interval (CI): -2.87, -1.50), less blood loss (SMD: -1.99; 95% CI: -2.75, -1.24), decreased frequency of fluoroscopy (SMD: -2.18; 95% CI: -2.74, -1.61), shortened fracture healing times (SMD:-0.51; 95% CI: -0.97, -0.05) and less postoperative complications (Risk Ratio (RR): 0.64, 95% CI: 0.46, 0.90). No significant differences were found in hospitalization duration. Some studies reported improvements in reduction quality and functional outcomes but these results were not pooled for meta-analysis, since the reported outcome measures were too heterogeneous. Conclusions Current computer-assisted planning approaches are feasible to be used in clinical practice and have been shown to improve clinical outcomes. Including biomechanical analysis into the framework has the potential to further improve clinical outcome.

We introduce a novel key exchange protocol based on non-commutative matrix multiplication defined in $\mathbb{F}_p^{n \times n}$. The security of our method does not rely on computational problems as integer factorization or discrete logarithm whose difficulty is conjectured. We show that the public, secret and channel keys become indistinguishable to the eavesdropper under matrix multiplication. Remarkably, for achieving a 512-bit security level, the public key is 1024 bits and the private key is 768 bits, making them the smallest keys among post-quantum key exchange algorithms. Also, we discuss how to achieve key authentication, interdomain certification and Perfect Forward Secrecy (PFS). Therefore, Lizama's algorithm becomes a promising candidate to establish shared keys and secret communication between (IoT) devices in the quantum era.

We introduce a novel key exchange protocol based on non-commutative matrix multiplication defined in $\mathbb{Z}_p^{n \times n}$. The security of our method does not rely on computational problems as integer factorization or discrete logarithm whose difficulty is conjectured. We claim that the unique eavesdropper's opportunity to get the secret/private key is by means of an exhaustive search which is equivalent to the unsorted database search problem. Furthermore, we show that the secret/private keys become indistinguishable to the eavesdropper. Remarkably, to achieve a 512-bit security level, the keys (public/private) are of the same size when matrix multiplication is done over a reduced 8-bit size modulo. Also, we discuss how to achieve key certification and Perfect Forward Secrecy (PFS). Therefore, Lizama's algorithm becomes a promising candidate to establish shared keys and secret communication between (IoT) devices in the quantum era.

Heparanase (HPSE) has been defined as a multitasking protein that exhibits a peculiar enzymatic activity towards HS chains but which simultaneously performs other non-enzymatic functions. Through its enzymatic activity, HPSE catalyzes the cutting of the side chains of heparan sulfate (HS) proteoglycans, thus contributing to the remodeling of the extracellular matrix and of the basal membranes. Furthermore, thanks to this activity, HPSE also promotes the release and diffusion of various HS-linked molecules as growth factors, cytokines and enzymes. In addition to being an enzyme HPSE has been shown to possess the ability to trigger different signaling pathways by interacting with transmembrane proteins. In normal tissue and in physiological conditions, HPSE exhibits only low levels of expression restricted only to keratinocytes, trophoblast, platelets and mast cells and leukocytes. On the contrary, in pathological conditions, such as in tumor progression and metastasis, inflammation and fibrosis, it is overexpressed. With this brief review, we intend to provide an update on current knowledge about the different role of HPSE protein exerted by its enzymatic and not-enzymatic activity.

Heparanase (HPSE) has been defined as a multitasking protein that exhibits a peculiar enzymatic activity towards HS chains but which simultaneously performs other non-enzymatic functions. Through its enzymatic activity, HPSE catalyzes the cutting of the side chains of heparan sulfate (HS) proteoglycans, thus contributing to the remodeling of the extracellular matrix and of the basal membranes. Furthermore, thanks to this activity, HPSE also promotes the release and diffusion of various HS-linked molecules as growth factors, cytokines and enzymes. In addition to being an enzyme HPSE has been shown to possess the ability to trigger different signaling pathways by interacting with transmembrane proteins. In normal tissue and in physiological conditions, HPSE exhibits only low levels of expression restricted only to keratinocytes, trophoblast, platelets and mast cells and leukocytes. On the contrary, in pathological conditions, such as in tumor progression and metastasis, inflammation and fibrosis, it is overexpressed. With this brief review, we intend to provide an update on current knowledge about the different role of HPSE protein exerted by its enzymatic and not-enzymatic activity.

The present grievous situation of the tuberculosis disease can be improved by efficient case management and timely follow-up evaluations. With the advent of digital technology this can be achieved by quick summarization of the patient-centric data. The aim of our study was to assess the effectiveness of the ODK Scan paper-to-digital system during testing period of three months. A sequential, explanatory mixed-method research approach was employed to elucidate technology use. Training, smartphones, application and 3G enabled SIMs were provided to the four field workers. At the beginning, baseline measures of the data management aspects were recorded and compared with endline measures to see the impact of ODK Scan. Additionally, at the end, users’ feedback was collected regarding app usability, user interface design and workflow changes. 122 patients’ records were retrieved from the server and analysed for quality. It was found that ODK Scan recognized 99.2% of multiple choice bubble responses and 79.4% of numerical digit responses correctly. However, the overall quality of the digital data was decreased in comparison to manually entered data. Using ODK Scan, a significant time reduction is observed in data aggregation and data transfer activities, however, data verification and form filling activities took more time. Interviews revealed that field workers saw value in using ODK Scan, however, they were more concerned about the time consuming aspects of the use of ODK Scan. Therefore, it is concluded that minimal disturbance in the existing workflow, continuous feedback and value additions are the important considerations for the implementing organization to ensure technology adoption and workflow improvements.

Matrix multiplication is probably one of the most basic and important operations having a wide range of applications in studying Linear algebra. We will be primarily focused on reviewing different algorithms for the multiplication of two n×n matrices. The most Naive method has a complexity of O(n3) but interestingly, algorithms with better complexity have been achieved. We will get to see how the complexity can be improved further, occasionally giving a survey.

Cannabis is a flowering plant that has long been used for medicinal, therapeutic, and recreational purposes. Cannabis contains more than 500 different compounds, including a unique class of terpeno-phenolic compounds known as cannabinoids; Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) are the most prevalent cannabinoids and have been associated with the therapeutic and medicinal properties of the cannabis plant. In this paper, continuous flow microwave assisted extraction (MAE) is presented and compared with other methods for commercial cannabis extraction. The practical issues of each extraction method are discussed. The main advantages of MAE are: continuous-flow method which allows for higher volumes of biomass to be processed in less time than existing extraction methods, improved extraction efficiency leading to increased final product yields, improved extract consistency and quality because the process does not require stopping and restarting material flows, and ease of scale-up to industrial scale without the use of pressurised batch vessels. Moreover, due to the flexibility of changing the operation conditions, MAE eliminates additional steps required in most extraction methods, such as biomass decarboxylation, winterisation, which typically adds at least a half day to the extraction process. Another factor that sets MAE apart is the ability to achieve high extraction efficiency even at the industrial scale. Whereas the typical recovery of active compounds using supercritical CO¬2 remains around 70-80%, via MAE up to 95% of the active compounds from cannabis biomass can be recovered at the industrial scale.

In contrast to the traditional fillers, clay, in particular, natural smectite clay represents an environmentally significant alternative to improve the properties of polymers. Compared to con-ventional nanofillers, smectite clay can effectively enhance the physical and mechanical properties of polymer nanocomposites with a relatively small amount of addition (< 5 wt%). The present study focuses on investigating the reinforcing efficiency of different amounts (up to 5 wt%) of a natural Brazilian smectite clay on the mechanical and thermal properties of poly(butylene terephthalate) (PBT) nanocomposites. Natural Brazilian clay modified by addition of quaternary salt and sodium carbonate (MBClay) was infused into the PBT polymer by melt extrusion, using a twin-screw extruder. It was found that the best properties for PBT were obtained at 3.7 wt% of modified BClay. Tensile strength at break exhibited an increase of about 60 %, flexural strength increased by 24 % and flexural modulus increased by 17 %. In addition, an increase in the crystallinity percentage of PBT/BClay nanocomposite was confirmed by DSC and XRD analysis, and a gain of about 45 % in HDT was successfully achieved due to incorporation of 3.7 wt% of MBClay.

HTTP/2 video streaming has caught a lot of attentions in the development of multimedia technologies over the last few years. In HTTP/2, the server push mechanism allows the server to deliver more video segments to the client within a single request in order to deal with the requests explosion problem. As a result, recent research efforts have been focusing on utilizing such a feature to enhance the streaming experience while reducing the request-related overhead. However, current works only optimize the performance of a single client, without necessary concerns of possible influences on other clients in the same network. When multiple streaming clients compete for a shared bandwidth in HTTP/1.1, they are likely to suffer from unfairness, which is defined as the inequality in their bitrate selections. For HTTP/1.1, existing works have proven that the network-assisted solutions are effective in solving the unfairness problem. However, the feasibility of utilizing such an approach for the HTTP/2 server push has not been investigated. Therefore, in this paper, a novel proxy-based framework is proposed to overcome the unfairness problem in adaptive streaming over HTTP/2 with the server push. Experimental results confirm the outperformance of the proposed framework in ensuring the fairness, assisting the clients to avoid rebuffering events and lower bitrate degradation amplitude, while maintaining the mechanism of the server push feature.

Objective: Regeneration of bone defects remains a challenge for maxillofacial and reparative surgeons. The purpose of this histological study was to assess the osteogenic potential of octacalcium phosphate (OCP) and bone matrix gelatin (BMG) alone and in combination in artificially created mandibular bone defects in rats. The quality of the newly formed bone was also evaluated. Methods: Thirty-six male Sprague Dawley rats (6-8 weeks old with 120-150 g weight) were randomly divided into four groups. Defects (3 mm in diameter and 2 mm in depth) were created in the mandible of rats and filled with 6 mg of OCP, BMG or a combination of both (1/4 ratio), respectively. Defects were left unfilled in the control group. To assess osteoinduction and bone regeneration and determine the quality of the newly formed bone, tissue specimens were harvested at seven, 14, and 21 days post-implantation. The specimens were processed, stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and histologically analyzed under light microscopy. Results: In the experimental groups, new bone formation was initiated at the margins of defects from seventh day after implantation. At the end of the study period, the amount of the newly formed bone increased and the bone was relatively mature. Osteoinduction and new bone formation were greater in OCP/BMG group. In the control group, slight amount of new bone had been formed at the defect margins (next to host bone) on day 21. Conclusion: Combination of OCP/BMG may serve as an optimal biomaterial for treatment of mandibular bone defects.

Bonchev and Trinajstic defined two distance based entropy measures to measure the molecular branching of molecular graphs in 1977 [Information theory, distance matrix, and molecular branching, J. Chem. Phys., 38 (1977), 4517–4533]. In this paper we use these entropy measures which are based on distance matrices of graphs. The first one is based on distribution of distances in distance matrix and the second one is based on distribution of distances in upper triangular submatrix. We obtain the two entropy measures of paths, stars, complete graphs, cycles and complete bipartite graphs. Finally we obtain the minimal trees with respect to these entropy measures with fixed diameter.

This document focuses attention on the fundamental solution of an autonomous linear retarded functional differential equation (RFDE) along with its supporting cast of actors: kernel matrix, characteristic matrix, resolvent matrix, and the Laplace transform. The fundamental solution is presented in a form of the convolutional powers of the kernel matrix in the manner of a convolutional exponential matrix function. The fundamental solution combined with a solution representation gives an exact expression in explicit form for the solution of a RFDE. Algebraic graph theory is applied to the RFDE in the form of a weighted loop-digraph to illuminate the system structure and system dynamics and to identify the strong and weak components. Examples are provided in the document to elucidate the behavior of the fundamental solution. The paper introduces fundamental solutions of other functional differential equations.

This study aimed to investigate Coll-I, III, IV and elastin in canine normal prostate and PC, using Picrosirius red (PSR) and Immunohistochemical (IHC) analysis. Eight normal prostates and 10 PC from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded samples were used. Collagen fibers area was analyzed with ImageJ software. The distribution of Coll-I and Coll-III was approximately 80% around prostatic ducts and acini, 15% among smooth muscle and 5% surrounding blood vessels, in both normal prostate and PC. There was a higher median area of Coll-III in PC, when compared to normal prostatic tissue (p=0.001 for PSR and p= 0.05 for IHC). Immunostaining for Coll-IV was observed in the basal membrane of prostate acini, smooth muscle, blood vessels, and nerve fibers of normal and PC samples. Although there was no difference in Coll-IV area between normal tissue and PC, tumors with Gleason score 10 showed absence of Coll-IV, when compared to scores 6 and 8 (p=0.0095). Elastic fibers were found in the septa dividing the lobules and around the prostatic acini of normal samples, and was statistically higher in PC, compared to normal tissue (p=0.00229). Investigation of ECM components brings new information and should be correlated with prognosis in future studies.

The unexploited unification of general relativity and quantum mechanics (QM) prevents the proper understanding of the micro- and macroscopic world. Here we put forward a mathematical approach that introduces the problem in terms of negative curvature manifolds. We suggest that the oscillatory dynamics described by wave functions might take place on hyperbolic continuous manifolds, standing for the counterpart of QM’s Hilbert spaces. We describe how the tenets of QM, such as the observable A, the autostates ψa and the Schrodinger equation for the temporal evolution of states, might work very well on a Poincaré disk equipped with rotational groups. This curvature-based approach to QM, combined with the noncommutativity formulated in the language of gyrovectors, leads to a mathematical framework that might be useful in the investigation of relativity/QM relationships. Furthermore, we introduce a topological theorem, termed the punctured balloon theorem (PBT), which states that an orientable genus-1 surface cannot encompass disjoint points. PBT suggests that hyperbolic QM manifolds must be of genus ≥ 1 before measuring and genus zero after measuring. We discuss the implications of PBT in gauge theories and in the physics of the black holes.

Simulation-based education is a part of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) education. The paper discusses the experimental success of using Virtual Reality (VR) technology in simulation-based ITS education to improve the quality of education while increasing immersion and motivation. The study documents the application of VR technology to a microscopic simulation model and the methodology to capture and evaluate student experiences. The study discusses findings and ways to improve the planned VR technology implementation in the ITS laboratory.

Optical and mechanical properties of multilayer coatings depend on the selected layer materials and the deposition technology; therefore, knowledge of the performances of thin films is essential. In the present work, titanium dioxide (TiO2) and silicon dioxide (SiO2) thin films have been prepared by plasma ion-assisted deposition (PIAD). The optical, structural, and mechanical properties of thin films have been investigated using spectrometer/ellipsometer, X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and laser interferometer. The results show that TiO2 film fabricated by PIAD induces a high refractive index, wide optical band gap, amorphous structure, smooth surface, and tensile stress. In the case of SiO2 film, high bias voltage leads to dense structure and compressive stress. As an application, a three-wavelength high reflectance at 632.8, 808, and 1550nm is optimized and deposited. The dependence of total stress in the multilayer on the substrate temperature is studied as well. In conclusion, it is demonstrated that PIAD is an effective method for the preparation of ultralow stress TiO2/SiO2 multilayer films. The achieved stress is as low as 1.4Mpa. The result could provide guidance to the stress optimization of most optical components without prefiguring, backside coating, and post-deposition treatments.

Background: During placental formation, cytotrophoblasts (CTBs) fuse into multinucleate, microvilli-coated syncytiotrophoblasts (STBs), which contact maternal blood, mediating nutrient, metabolite, and gas exchange between mother and fetus, and providing a barrier against fetal infection. Trophoblasts remodel the surrounding extracellular matrix through the secretion of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). Maternal obesity and diabetes mellitus can negatively impact fetal development and may impair trophoblast function. We sought to model the impact of metabolic stress on STB function by examining MMP and hormone secretion. Methods: The BeWo CTB cell line was syncytialized to STB-like cells with forskolin. Cell morphology was examined by electron microscopy and immunofluorescence; phenotype was further assessed by ELISA and RT-qPCR. STBs were exposed to a metabolic stress cocktail (MetaC: 30 mM glucose, 10 nM insulin, and 0.1 mM palmitic acid). Results: BeWo syncytialization was demonstrated by increased secretion of HCGβ and progesterone, elevated syncytin gene expression (ERVW-1 and ERVFRD-1), loss of tight junctions, and increased surface microvilli. MetaC suppressed HCGβ and progesterone and altered both MMP-9 and MMP-2. Conclusions: Metabolic stress modeling diabetes and obesity altered BeWo STB hormone and MMP production in vitro. These results compel further study into the potential impact of metabolic stress on trophoblast formation and function.

Paclitaxel is a natural, highly lipophilic anti proliferative drug widely used in medicine. We have studied the release of tritium-labeled paclitaxel (³H-PTX) from matrices destined for the coating of vascular stents and produced by the electrospinning method from the solutions of polycaprolactone (PCL) with paclitaxel (PTX) in hexafluoisoropropanol (HFIP) and/or solutions of PCL with PTX and human serum albumin (HSA) in HFIP or HIFP-dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO) blend. The release of PTX has been shown to depend on the solvent and the composition of electrospinning solution, as well as the composition of the surrounding medium, particularly the concentration of free PTX and PTX-binding biomolecules present in human serum. It was shown that 3D matrices can completely release PTX without weight loss. Two-phase PTX release from optimized 3D matrices was obtained: ~27% of PTX was released in the first day, another 8% were released over the next 26 days. Wherein ~2.8%, ~2.3%, and ~0.25% of PTX was released on day 3, 9, and 27, respectively. Considering PTX toxicity, the rate of its diffusion through the arterial wall, and the data obtained the minimum cytostatic dose of the drug in the arterial wall will be maintained for at least three months.

Phylogenomic analyses have revolutionized the study of biodiversity, but they have revealed that estimated tree topologies can depend, at least in part, on the subset of the genome that is analyzed. For example, estimates of trees for avian orders differ if protein coding or non-coding data are analyzed. The bird tree is a good study system because the historical signal for relationships among orders is very weak, which should permit subtle non-historical signals to be identified, while monophyly of orders is strongly corroborated, allowing identification of strong non-historical signals. Hydrophobic amino acids in mitochondrially-encoded proteins, which are expected to be found in transmembrane helices, have been hypothesized to be associated with non-historical signals. We tested this hypothesis by comparing the evolution of transmembrane helices and extramembrane segments of mitochondrial proteins from 420 bird species, sampled from most avian orders. We estimated amino acids exchangeabilities for both structural environments and assessed the performance of phylogenetic analysis using each data type. We compared those relative exchangeabilities with values calculated using a substitution dataset for transmembrane helices from a variety of sampled set of nuclear- and mitochondrially-encoded proteins, allowing us to compare the bird-specific mitochondrial models with a general model of transmembrane protein evolution. To complement our amino acid analyses, we examined the impact of protein structure on patterns of nucleotide evolution. Models of transmembrane and extramembrane sequence evolution for amino acids and nucleotides exhibited striking differences, but there was no evidence for strong topological data type effects. However, incorporating protein structure into analyses of mitochondrially-encoded proteins improved model fit. Thus, we believe that considering protein structure will improve analyses of mitogenomic data, both in birds and in other taxa.

BACKGROUND Relaxin (RLX), a hormone-like molecule with pleiotropic effects, has been found to reduce matrix deposition and mediate collagen degradation in animal models of chronic liver injuries and might be considered as an adjuvant therapeutic agent for progressive liver diseases. AIMS In the present study, we evaluated whether RLX affects the development of liver fibrosis in an experimental mouse model of NASH in C57BL6 male mice fed with a methionine-choline deficient diet (MCD). Methods Mice were treated per os as we intended to assess the enteric absorption and bioavailability of orally administered RLX (RLX purified from pig ovaries, IBSA SA, Lugano, Switzerland). Mice were fed the MCD diet for 6 weeks. After the initial 3 weeks, one group received drinking water supplemented with RLX (25 mcg/ml) whereas the other continued to receive regular water. A third group of mice fed a regular diet served as control. After 3 additional weeks mice were anesthetized and sacrificed. Results A significant, reduced expression of the pro-inflammatory cytokines TNF-α and of relevant markers of active fibrogenesis and extracellular matrix deposition, Col1A1 and α-SMA, was observed in mice treated with RLX vs controls. RLX also induced a significant decrease of TIMP1 and an increase of both MMP 2 and 9 when evaluated by zymographic analysis in liver extracts. Conclusions Although preliminary pharmacokinetics experiments showed barely detectable amounts of RLX in the blood of mice treated per os, these data support the absorption of orally administered RLX and confirm its potential therapeutic use in the management of liver fibrosis.

Canola is the major oilseed crop of Canada. The de-oiled material is an important by-product due to its rich phenolic profile and high protein content. This co-processing stream from canola is primarily utilized as animal feed but represents an invaluable source of nutraceuticals. Microwave-assisted solvent extraction (MAE), as a green extraction method, has received considerable attention in recent times. The ease of use and application of many solvents at the same time makes the MAE one of the best methods for studying multiple solvents at the same time. The formation of canolol, from sinapine and sinapic acid, is primarily dependant on temperature which favors the decarboxylation reaction. Hence, MAE using green extractants can be used to enhance the yield of canolol. This study examined the effects of different pre-treatment temperature-time combinations of 140, 150, 160, and 170℃ for 5, 10, 15, 20 and 30 minutes on the extraction of canolol and other canola endogenous phenolic compounds. Three antioxidant assays assessed the antioxidant activity of the different extracts obtained by MAE confirming the microwave as a novel and versatile instrument for enhancing the yield of canolol. Improvements in the antioxidant activity of the different extracts further established the efficacy of the current method for isolating important natural phenolic derivatives for utilization by the nutraceutical industry.

myfood24 is a comprehensive self-completed online 24-hour dietary recall tool currently used for nutritional assessments in epidemiological research. However, its clinical application has been unexplored. This mixed methods prospective observational study explores the acceptability and usability of myfood24 in a clinical population, women with gestational diabetes (GDM). Women were recruited at their first diabetes antenatal clinic appointment. To assess acceptability and usability, they were asked to complete five 24-hour dietary recalls using myfood24 over two weeks and a user experience questionnaire; with a subset invited to participate in a one-to-one semi-structured interview. Of the 199 participants, mean maternal age was 33 years, mean booking BMI 29.7kg/m2, 36% primiparous, 57% White, 33% Asian. Of these 121 (61%) completed myfood24 at least once and 73 (37%) completed the user questionnaire; 15 were interviewed. Usability of myfood24 was measured using the System Usability Scale (SUS) and found to be good (mean 70.9, 95%CI 67.1, 74.6). Interviews identified several areas for improvement, including optimising its use for mobile devices. myfood24 appears to be acceptable and have potential to support self-management and behaviour change for women with GDM but requires adaptation to record blood glucose results alongside real-time tracking of diet.

This paper attempts to propose a Riemann spring model via an analogy between the Riemann Zeta function of a complex number and the elastic spring in series.

The aim of this paper is to show how the mathematical basis is used for a precise treatment of double-entry bookkeeping, which was firstly developed in the nineteenth century by Sir William Rowan Hamilton. This is done by using basic notions of matrix algebra with the roots to the idea of using ordered pairs. We also reveal how the complex numbers and the rationals (fractions) developed in a mainstream of accounting science and became a leading platform for the ongoing processes within the Industry 4.0. The paper concludes with the examples on how accounting operations can be represented by matrix equations with a result of the essential report generating. The author represents a mathematical model of accounting which is independent of the specific existential forms but is capable to undertake the form of any of them and thus has the prospect of being understood and accepted by specialists globally.

Background: Elucidation of epigenetic mechanisms correlating with neuropathic pain in humans is crucial for the prevention and treatment of this treatment-resistant pain state. In the present study, associations between neuropathic pain characteristics and DNA methylation of the transient receptor potential ankyrin 1(TRPA1) gene were evaluated in chronic pain patients and preoperative patients. Methods: Pain and psychological states were prospectively assessed in patients who suffered chronic pain or were scheduled for thoracic surgery. Neuropathic characteristics were assessed using the Douleur Neuropathique 4 (DN4) questionnaire. DNA methylation levels of the CpG island in the TRPA1 gene were examined using whole blood. Results: Forty-eight adult patients were enrolled in this study. Increases in DNA methylation rates at CpG -51 showed positive correlations with increases in the DN4 score both in preoperative and chronic pain patients. Combined methylation rates at CpG -51 also significantly increased together with increase in DN4 scores. Conclusions: Neuropathic pain characteristics are likely associated with methylation rates at the promoter region of the TRPA1 gene in human peripheral blood.

Background: Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the leading malignancy diseases worldwide, especially in Asian. CAST is a potential oncogene in GC carcinogenesis process. The character of macrophage infiltration in GC microenvironment was also unaddressed. Methods: We first applied machine searching in gene candidate evaluation of GC. CAST expression was analyzed via the Human Protein Atlas (HPA) and Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis 2 (GEPIA2) database. Protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was downloaded from STRING. We investigated the impact of CAST on clinical prognosis using Kaplan-Meier plotter. The correlations between CAST and Lgr5 and macrophage infiltration in GC was surveyed via TIMER 2.0. Finally, GeneMANIA was also used to evaluate the possible functional linkage between genes. Results: After machine-assisted searching, CAST expression was found signicant difference in the overall survival of GC patients. STRING revealed CAST related proteomics and transcriptomics associations, mainly about CAPN family. Moreover, CAST significantly impacts the prognosis of GC from other datasets validation. Notably, high CAST expression was correlated with worse overall survival in GC patients (hazard ratio = 1.59; logrank P = 9.4 x 10-8). CAST and Lgr5 expressions were both positively correlated with WNT 2 and WNT 2B. Among GC patients in several datasets, CAST and macrophage infiltration evaluated together showed no obvious trend toward poor clinical overall survival. Conclusion: CAST plays an important role in GC clinical prognosis and is associated with WNT 2/WNT 2B/Lgr5. Our study denmostrated that CAST in GC overall survival is regulated by macrophage infiltration.

Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is a perennial, outcrossing legume crop predominantly grown for hay, silage, or pasture. Intensive selection has resulted in dramatic improvement in fitness traits, including winter survival and disease resistance. However, there has been minimal improvement in other economically important traits, such as hay yield, which is still comparable to 30 years ago. Intensive phenotyping costs on this type of trait hinder high selection pressure to identify superior outcross individuals. Severe inbreeding depression inhibits the development of inbred lines with accumulated favorable alleles that exhibit heterosis. This review highlights the outcomes of inbreeding depression as well as the causes, including unmasking deleterious alleles and triggering self-incompatibility. We tracked the research efforts that unveil the genetic bases underlying deleterious alleles and self-incompatibility. The magnitudes of inbreeding depression were compared with the rate of heterozygous halved time in diploid and tetraploid organisms. To fill in the gaps between the controversy and existing hypotheses, we theorized a dosage dominant model of inheritance. The dosage dominant model is similar to the Mendelian dominance model, in which a genotype exhibits a dominant phenotype if there is a dominant allele (alphabet dominant). The difference is that in the dosage dominant model, a genotype will result in a dominant phenotype if the number of dominant alleles is equal to or greater than the number of recessive alleles. This review also includes a discussion on the development of pseudo inbreds and a hypothesis to identify deleterious alleles using bulked segregant analysis and consequently to purge deleterious alleles using marker-assisted selection, to progress toward the successful development of pure inbred lines in alfalfa.

Sustainable agricultural production is endangered by several ecological factors such as drought, extreme temperatures, excessive salts, parasitic ailments, and insect pest infestation. These challenging environmental factors may have adverse effects on future agriculture production in many countries. In modern agriculture, conventional crop breeding techniques alone are inadequate for achieving the increasing population’s food demand on a sustainable basis. The advancement of molecular genetics and related technologies are promising tools for the selection of new crop species. Gene pyramiding through marker assisted selection (MAS) and other techniques have accelerated the development of durable resistant/tolerant lines with high accuracy in the shortest possible period of time for agricultural sustainability. Gene stacking has not been fully utilized for biotic stress resistance development and quality improvement in most of the major cultivated crops. This review emphasizes on gene pyramiding techniques that are being successfully deployed in modern agriculture for improving crop tolerance to abiotic and biotic stresses for sustainable crop improvement.

Background: Instrument-assisted soft tissue mobilization (IASTM) is thought to alter fluid dynamics in human soft tissue. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of IASTM on the thoracolumbar fascia (TLF) on the water content of the lumbar myofascial tissue. Methods: 21 healthy volunteers were treated with IASTM. Before and after the procedure and 5 and 10 minutes later, lumbar bioimpedance was measured by bioimpedance analysis (BIA) and TLF stiffness by indentometry. Tissue temperature was recorded at the measurement time points using an infrared thermometer. Results: Bioimpedance increased significantly from 58.3 to 60.4 Ω (p < 0.001) at 10-minute follow-up after the treatment. Temperature increased significantly from 36.3 to 36.6° Celsius from 5 to 10 minutes after treatment (p = 0.029), while lumbar myofascial stiffness did not change significantly (p = 0.84). Conclusions: After the IASTM intervention, there was a significant increase in bioimpedance, likely due to a decrease in water content in myofascial lumbar tissue. Further studies in a randomized control trial design are needed to extrapolate the results in healthy subjects to a symptomatic population as well and to confirm the reliability of BIA in myofascial tissue.

Many authors proposed analytical methods for solving fully fuzzy Sylvester matrix equation (FFSME) based on Vec-operator and Kronecker product. However, these methods are restricted to nonnegative fuzzy numbers and cannot be extended to FFSME with near-zero fuzzy numbers. The main intention of this paper is to develop a new numerical method for solving FFSME with near-zero trapezoidal fuzzy numbers that provides a wider scope of trapezoidal fully fuzzy Sylvester matrix equation (TrFFSME) in scientific applications. This numerical method can solve the trapezoidal fully fuzzy Sylvester matrix equation with arbitrary coefficients and find all possible finite arbitrary solutions for the system. In order to obtain all possible fuzzy solutions, the TrFFSME is transferred to a system of non-linear equations based on newly developed arithmetic fuzzy multiplication between trapezoidal fuzzy numbers. The fuzzy solutions to the TrFFSME are obtained by developing a new two-stage algorithm. To illustrate the proposed method numerical example is solved.

In this paper we perform numerous numerical studies for the problem of low-rank matrix completion. We compare the Bayesian approaches and a recently introduced de-biased estimator which provides a useful way to build confidence intervals of interest. From a theoretical viewpoint, the de-biased estimator comes with a sharp minimax-optimal rate of estimation error whereas the Bayesian approach reaches this rate with an additional logarithmic factor. Our simulation studies show originally interesting results that the de-biased estimator is just as good as the Bayesian estimators. Moreover, Bayesian approaches are much more stable and can outperform the de-biased estimator in the case of small samples. However, we also find that the length of the confidence intervals revealed by the de-biased estimator for an entry is absolutely shorter than the length of the considered credible interval. These suggest further theoretical studies on the estimation error and the concentration for Bayesian methods as they are being quite limited up to present.

Robot-assisted gait training (RAGT) is a promising treatment for stroke rehabilitation. Although the coordination between the upper and lower limbs is important for locomotor training, commercially available robotics for gait training mainly focus on the restoration of lower limb function. We aimed to evaluate the feasibility and usability of complex upper and lower limb RAGT in stroke patients using the GTR-A®, end effector-type robotic device. Patients with subacute stroke (N=9) received 30-minute RAGT thrice a week for two weeks (six sessions). Functionally, the hand grip strength (HGS), Functional Ambulatory Categories, modified Barthel Index, muscle strength test sum score, Berg Balance Scale, Timed Up and Go test, and Short Physical Performance Battery were used. The heart rate and a structured questionnaire were used to evaluate cardiorespiratory fitness and the usability of RAGT. Among the nine patients, all functional parameters between the baseline and post-training were significantly improved after RAGT, except for HGS and the muscle strength test. The questionnaire’s mean scores for each domain were as follows: safety 4.40±0.35, effects 4.23±0.31, efficiency 4.22±0.77, and satisfaction 4.41±0.25. The GTR-A® is a feasible and safe robotic device for patients with gait impairment after stroke. It showed functional improvement with endurance training effects.

This study was to investigate and assess salivary biomarkers as a means of diagnosing periodontitis. A total of 121 subjects were included: 28 periodontally healthy subjects, 24 with stage I, 24 with stage II, 23 with stage III, and 22 with stage IV periodontitis. Salivary proteins including active matrix metalloproteinase-8 (MMP-8), pro-MMP-8, total MMP-8, C-reactive protein, secretory immunoglobulin A and planktonic bacteria including Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, Porphyromonas gingivalis, Tannerella forsythia, Treponema denticola, Fusobacterium nucleatum, Prevotella intermedia, Porphyromonas nigrescens, Parvimonas micra, Campylobacter rectus, Eubacterium nodatum, Eikenella corrodens, Streptococcus mitis, Streptococcus mutans, Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, and Actinomyces viscosus were measured from salivary samples. The performance of the diagnostic models was assessed by receiver operating characteristics (ROC) and area under the ROC curve (AUC) analysis. The diagnostic models were constructed based on the subjects’ proteins and/or microbial profiles, resulting in two potential diagnosis models, which achieved better diagnostic powers with an AUC value &gt; 0.750 for the diagnosis of stage II, III, and IV periodontitis (Model PC-I; AUC: 0.796, sensitivity: 0.754, specificity: 0.712) and for the diagnosis of stage III and IV periodontitis (Model PC-II; AUC: 0.796, sensitivity: 0.756, specificity: 0.868). This study can contribute to screening for periodontitis based on salivary biomarkers.

Autogenous demineralized dentin matrix (ADDM), derived from human extracted tooth, is commonly used as a bone-graft substitute to reconstruct alveolar defects when placing dental implants. The purpose of this retrospective study is to examine efficacy of ADDM in terms of surgical complications and marginal bone resorption by analyzing the medical records and radiographs of patients who received ADDM graft from 2008 to 2011 in our institute. Occurrence of complications, marginal bone loss around implants were investigated with regard to the type of defect, location of bone grafting, and types of bone graft techniques. ADDM-based bone grafting was performed on 221 sites in 82 patients and 208 implants were placed afterwards: The percentage of complications after bone grafting was 15.84%, and the implant survival rate was 95.19%. All complications were resolved with conventional treatment except for the 10 cases of osseointegration failure. The average marginal bone loss was 0.31 mm at the last examination after the average follow-up period of 7.2 years. Within the limitation of this study, the results of long-term follow-up are consistent with the short-term results of relevant studies. ADDM can produce promising clinical outcomes when used for alveolar ridge augmentation around implants.

Matrix metalloproteinases have been implicated in muscular dystrophy progression and recent studies described the role of MMP-10 in skeletal muscle pathology of young dystrophic mice. Nevertheless, its implication in dystrophin deficient hearts is still missing. Here, we aimed at investigating MMP-10 implication in severe muscular dystrophic progression and characterize MMP-10 loss in skeletal and cardiac muscles of aged dystrophic mice. We examined the histopathological effect of MMP-10 ablation in aged mdx mice, both in the hind limb muscles and heart tissues. We have found that MMP-10 loss compromises survival rates of aged mdx mice, with skeletal and cardiac muscles developing a chronic inflammatory response. Our findings indicate that MMP-10 is implicated in severe muscular dystrophy progression, identifying a new area of investigation that could lead to future therapies for dystrophic muscles.

In the recent years, Cannabis and hemp-based products have become increasingly popular for various applications ranging from recreational use, edibles, beverages to health care products and medicines. The rapid detection and differentiation of phytocannabinoids is, therefore, essential to assess the potency, therapeutic and nutritional values of cannabis cultivars. Here, we implemented the SpiderMass technology for the in vivo detection of cannabidiol acid (CBDA) and tetrahydrocannabinol acid (THCA) and other endogenous organic plant compounds to access distribution gradients within the plants and differentiate cultivars. The SpiderMass system is composed of an IR- laser handheld microsampling probe connected to the mass spectrometer through a transfer tube. The analysis was performed in situ on different plant organs from freshly cultivated Cannabis plants in only a few seconds. SpiderMass analysis easily discriminated the two acid phytocannabinoid isomers by MS/MS and the built statistical models differentiated between four Cannabis cultivars. Different abundancies of acid phytocannabinoids were also found along the plant as well as between different cultivars. All together, these results introduce the direct analysis by SpiderMass as a compelling analytical alternative for forensic and hemp industrial analysis.

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

In this study, a 5vol. % (TiBw+TiCp)/Ti composite pancake with a diameter of 260mm was prepared by casting followed by open die forging in (α+β) phase region. The microstructures of the composite pancake are inhomogeneous, in terms of both matrix microstructure and distribution of reinforcements. The matrix microstructures were gradually refined from the periphery to centre of the pancake. The TiBw and TiCp reinforcements tend to be uniformly distributed in the centre region and. It is suggested that the microstructure difference can be mainly ascribed to the temperature variation from the periphery to the centre. Additionally, tensile testing results showed that the centre region of the composite pancake exhibits higher strength than the peripheral region. The strengthening mechanism and the softening behavior of the composite pancake with temperature is discussed.

We attempted to establish an objective method to accurately evaluate the motility of bull sperm and examined the effects of media for sperm suspensions and frame rates on data of computer-assisted sperm motility analysis (CASA). Sperm incubated in Brackett and Oliphant medium (BO) more clearly showed hyperactivation-like motility than those in synthetic oviductal fluid. Sperm images captured at 150 frames per second (fps) showed a trajectory that was closer to the real pathway than those at other frame rates (30, 50, and 75 fps). We then examined the characteristics of sex-sorted and non-sorted semen using a cluster analysis followed by a discriminant analysis of sperm motility in BO at 150 fps. The results indicated that sex-sorted semen contained sperm with hyperactivation-like motility as the main subpopulation immediately after thawing and this subpopulation decreased after 2-h incubation. The main subpopulation in non-sorted semen had progressive motility that was maintained during incubation. In conclusion, usage of BO for sperm suspensions and capturing sperm motility at 150 fps by CASA were appropriate for evaluating bovine sperm motility. A discriminant analysis using data from a cluster analysis of motile sperm has the ability to accurately describe differences in the structures of sperm motility subpopulations.

Metal matrix composite are used in such fields of technology, such as: aerospace, electronics, energy, industry, defense, automotive, aviation, shipbuilding, and more. Composite coatings of ceramic - metals is used primarily to enhance the durability of machine parts. Therefore, new materials are permanently looked for, what has resulted in the past in development of composite materials. The coatings dispersed are consisting of metallic matrix (metals and their alloys) and small non-metallic particles. The deposition of ceramic particles simultaneously with metallic matrix leads often to composite coatings possessing properties much better than those of metallic coating. The nickel and less often, other iron group elements are usually used as a matrix and Al2O3 as tough particles. The welding technology of applying alloy and composite coatings is widely used. The technology of infrasound thermal spraying of metal matrix composite coatings was presented. It is a simple technology and a very useful one in ship machinery regeneration during the cruise craft (e.g. internal combustion engines, torque pumps, separators). The metal matrix composite coatings must undergo finishing due to high surface roughness after application. In the article to used finishing by plastic working and machining of coatings nickel matrix composite was proposed.

The implementation of graphene-based electronics requires fabrication processes able to cover large device areas since exfoliation method is not compatible with industrial applications. Chemical vapor deposition of large-area graphene represents a suitable solution having the important drawback of producing polycrystalline graphene with formation of grain boundaries, which are responsible for limitation of the device performance. With these motivations, we formulate a theoretical model of graphene grain boundary by generalizing the graphene Dirac Hamiltonian model. The model only includes the long-wavelength regime of the particle transport, which provides the main contribution to the device conductance. Using symmetry-based arguments deduced from the current conservation law, we derive unconventional boundary conditions characterizing the grain boundary physics and analyze their implications on the transport properties of the system. Angle resolved quantities, such as the transmission probability, are studied within the scattering matrix approach. The conditions for the existence of preferential transmission directions are studied in relation with the grain boundary properties. The proposed theory provides a phenomenological model to study grain boundary physics within the scattering approach and represents per se an important enrichment of the scattering theory of graphene. Moreover, the outcomes of the theory can contribute in understanding and limiting detrimental effects of graphene grain boundaries also providing a benchmark for more elaborated techniques.

This paper first discusses a fractional-order Liu system of order as low as 2.7 and shows its chaotic characteristics by carrying out numerical simulations such as Lyapunov exponents, bifurcation diagrams and phase portraits. Then, by using the topological horseshoe theory and computer-assisted proof, the existence of chaos in the system is verified theoretically. Finally, the fractional-order system is implemented on a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) and the results obtained show that the fractional-order Liu system is indeed chaotic.

Cells actively sense differences in topology, matrix elasticity and protein composition of the extracellular microenvironment and adapt their function and morphology. In this study, we focus on the cross-talk between matrix stiffness and protein coating density that regulate morphology and proliferation dynamics of single myocytes. For this, C2C12 myocytes were monitored on L-DOPA functionalized hydrogels of 22 different elasticity and fibronectin density compositions. Static images were recorded and statistically analyzed to determine morphological differences and to identify the optimized extracellular matrix (ECM). Using that information, selected ECMs were used to study the dynamics before and after cell proliferation by statistical comparison of distinct cell states. We observed a fibronectin density independent increase of the projected cell area until 12 kPa. Additionally, changes in the fibronectin density led to an area optimum at about 2.6 μg/cm, which was confirmed by an independent F-actin analysis, revealing a maximum actin filament to cell area ratio of 7.5 %. The proliferation evaluation showed an opposite correlation between cell spreading duration and speed to the matrix elasticity and protein density, which did not affect the cell cycle duration. In summary, we identified an optimized ECM composition, while independent matrix properties regulate distinct cell characteristics.

High Brassicaceae consumption reduces the risk of developing several cancer types, probably due to their glucosinolate amount. Extracts from Sinapis nigra L. and Sinapis alba L. have been obtained from leaves and seeds under different conditions using ethanol/water mixtures because well accepted by food industry. The EtOH/H2O 8:2 mixture gives better yields in glucosinolate amounts from grinded seeds, mainly sinalbin in S. alba and sinigrin in S. nigra. The highest antiproliferative activity in both non-tumour and tumour cell lines was induced by S. alba seeds extract. To evaluate whether Sinapis spp effect was only due to glucosinolate content or it was influenced by the extracts’ complexity, cells were treated with extracts or glucosinolates, in the presence of myrosinase. Pure sinigrin did not modify cell proliferation, while pure sinalbin was less effective than the extract. The addition of myrosinase increased the antiproliferative effects of the S. nigra extract and sinigrin. Antiproliferative activity was correlated to MAPKs modulation, which was cell and extract-dependent. Cell-cycle analysis evidenced a proapoptotic effect of S. alba on both tumour cell lines and of S. nigra only on HCT 116. Both extracts showed good antimicrobial activity in disc diffusion tests and on ready-to-eat fresh salad. These results underline the potential effects of Sinapis spp in chemoprevention and food preservation.

Due to the increasing importance of mangroves in climate change mitigation projects, more accurate and cost-effective aboveground biomass (AGB) monitoring methods are required. However, field measurement of AGB may be a challenge because of its remote location and the difficulty to walk in these areas. This study is based on the Livelihoods Fund’ Oceanium project of 10,000 hectare mangrove plantations monitoring. In a first step, the possibility of replacing traditional field measurements of sample plots in a young mangrove plantation by a semiautomatic processing of UAV-based photogrammetric point clouds was assessed. In a second step, Sentinel-1 radar and Sentinel-2 optical imagery were used as auxiliary information to estimate AGB and its variance for the entire study area under a model-assisted framework. AGB was measured using UAV imagery in a total of 95 sample plots. UAV plot data was used in combination with non-parametric Support Vector Regression (SVR) models for the estimation of the study area AGB using model-assisted estimators. Purely UAV-based AGB estimates and their associated standard error (SE) were compared with model-assisted estimates using (1) Sentinel-1, (2) Sentinel-2 and (3) a combination of Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 data as auxiliary information. The validation of the UAV-based individual tree height and crown diameter measurements showed a root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.21 m and 0.32 m respectively. Relative efficiency of the three model-assisted scenarios ranged between 1.61 and 2.15. Although all SVR models improved the efficiency of the monitoring over UAV-based estimates, the best results were achieved when a combination of Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 data was used. Results indicated that the methodology used in this research can provide accurate and cost-effective estimates of AGB in mangrove young plantations.

The chemical graph theory is a subfield of mathematical chemistry which applies classic graph theory to chemical entities and phenomena. Chemical graphs are main data structures to represent chemical structures in cheminformatics. Computable properties of graphs lay the foundation for (quantitative) structure activity and structure property predictions - a core discipline of cheminformatics. It has a historic relevance for natural sciences, such as chemistry, biochemistry and biology, and is in the heart of modern disciplines, such as cheminformatics and bioinformatics. This review first covers the history of chemical graph theory, then provides an overview of its various techniques and applications for CASE, and finally summarises modern tools using chemical graph theory for CASE.