Infectious disease like COVID-19 will have a great impact on human society. An effective prevention and control measure is to quickly isolate the source and reduce the population’s exposure to the infection. Therefore, it is very important to quickly trace and identify the virus carrier and its close contacts in order to effectively suppressing transmission. This article provides a method, system and storage medium for locating the source of infection based on big data. We adopt the method of combining Bluetooth and GPS positioning to track the action trajectory of each individual. The method stores the close contact and location information locally and update on the cloud platform for an appropriate period of time. The method and system can provide personal risk levels and regional risk levels through related algorithms. When entering a high-risk area or if the personal risk level within the Bluetooth interconnection range is greater than the set threshold, an alarm function is provided. We can also generate reports on the spread of the epidemic over a period of time. As a result, the system can quickly locate the source of infection and close contacts, providing a reference for quick and highly efficient epidemic prevention and control.

In order to solve the labor-intensive and time-consuming problem in the process of measuring yak body ruler and weight in yak breeding industry in Qinghai Province, a non-contact method for measuring yak body ruler and weight was proposed in this experiment, and key technologies based on semantic segmentation, binocular ranging and neural network algorithm were studied to boost the development of yak breeding industry in Qinghai Province. Main conclusions: (1) Study yak foreground image extraction, and implement yak foreground image extraction model based on U-net algorithm; select 2263 yak images for experiment, and verify that the accuracy of the model in yak image extraction is over 97%. (2) Develop an algorithm for estimating yak body ruler based on binocular vision, and use the extraction algorithm of yak body ruler related measurement points combined with depth image to estimate yak body ruler. The final test shows that the average estimation error of body height and body oblique length is 2.6%, and the average estimation error of chest depth is 5.94%. (3) Study the yak weight prediction model; select the body height, body oblique length and chest depth obtained by binocular vision to estimate the yak weight; use two algorithms to establish the yak weight prediction model, and verify that the average estimation error of the model for yak weight is 10.7% and 13.01% respectively.

Failure of various weight-loss programs and long-term maintenance of favorable body composition in all kinds of people is high, since the majority go back to old dietary patterns. Many studies have documented the efficacy of a plant-based diet (PBD) for body mass management, but there are opinions that maintaining a PBD is difficult. We aimed to evaluate the long-term success of a whole-food plant-based (WFPB) lifestyle program. We investigated the differences in the obesity indices and lifestyle of 151 adults (39.6 ± SD 12.5 years), who were on our program for short (0.5–<2 years), medium (2–<5 years), or long term (5–10 years). Body-composition changes were favourable for all three groups, both genders and all participants. There were no differences in relative body-composition changes (BMI, body fat percentage and muscle mass index (MMI)) between the three groups. All participants improved their BMI (baseline mean pre-obesity BMI range (kg/m²): 26.4 ± 5.6 to normal 23.9 ± 3.8, p < 0.001), decreased body mass (–7.1 ± 8.3 kg, p < 0.001) and body fat percentage (–6.4 ± 5.6 % points, p < 0.001). Those with the highest BMI at baseline lost the most of: a) BMI units, b) total body mass and c) body fat (a) (kg/m²) (–5.6 ± SD 2.9, –2.4 ± 1.8 and –0.9 ± 1.5), b) (kg) (–16.1 ± SD 8.8, –7.1 ± 5.4 and –2.5 ± 4.5) and c) (% points) (–9.5 ± SD 5.7, –6.6 ± 4.6 and –4.7 ± 5.3) for participants who had baseline BMI in obese, overweight and normal range, respectively; p_{baseline vs. current} < 0.001 for all). 85.6% (101 out of 118) of parents of underage children (< 18 years), introduced WFPB lifestyle to their children. WFPB lifestyle program provides long-term lifestyle changes for reversal of obesity and is effective transferred to the next generation.

This study aimed to evaluate the impact of selected pregnancy pathologies statistically depending on overweight/obesity and excessive maternal weight gain during pregnancy on women who gave birth in the years 2013–2015 at the Second Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics at the University Hospital in Bratislava, Slovakia. In a retrospective study, we analyzed data gathered from the sample, which consisted of 7,122 women. Our results indicate a positive statistical dependency of the groups of women with overweight and obesity and gestational hypertension (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]=15.3; 95% CI 9.0−25.8 for obesity), preeclampsia (AOR=3.4; 95% CI 1.9−6.0 for overweight and AOR=13.2; 95% CI 7.7−22.5 for obesity), and gestational diabetes mellitus (AOR=1.9; 95% CI 1.2−2.9 for overweight and AOR=2.4; 95% CI 1.4−4.0 for obesity). A higher incidence of pregnancies terminated by cesarean section was observed in the group of obese women. Gestational weight gain above the IOM (the Institute of Medicine) recommendations was associated with a higher risk of pregnancy terminated by C-section (AOR=1.2; 95% CI 1.0−1.3), gestational hypertension (AOR=1.7; 95% CI 1.0−2.7), and infant macrosomia (AOR=1.7; 95% CI 1.3−2.1). Overweight and obesity during pregnancy significantly contribute to the development of pregnancy pathologies and increased incidence of cesarean section. Systematic efforts to reduce weight before pregnancy through pre-pregnancy dietary counseling, regular physical activity, and healthy lifestyle should be the primary goal.

Visualization of the seabed terrain is one of the key functions of marine geographic information system. The major challenge here is that the obtained data for seabed terrain usually consists of elevation and sediment only but does not include remote sensing images, which is important for ground terrain visualization, as they can be used as textures to reveal detailed information and achieve realistic visual results. Existing seabed terrain visualizing methods (including annotations, color-mapping, and texture-mapping) have limitations in reality and intuition, as they are inadequate to express the physical characteristics of sediment accurately. This paper presents a novel and advanced 3D visualization method of seabed terrain, which introduces the Physically Based Rendering (PBR) theory into the field of geographic visualization. We analyze the main categories of seabed sediments and their optical features respectively, then develop a procedural method to generate physically based rendering materials for different sediments. Then an enhanced bidirectional reflectance distribution function is employed to achieve accurate and intuitive terrain rendering. We also refine the texture sampling method and propose a procedural seabed objects generation method to construct a more natural and realistic undersea environment. Experimental results reveal our method can make good use of the limited seabed terrain data and get significant improvements in visual effect, which can help users to cognize and analyze the seabed geographic environment more accurately and intuitively.

Background: With the trend of intelligent display, the interface design of in-vehicle HUD is an expanding research field; Methods: To solve the subjectivity and uncertainty in the optimization of HUD interface design schemes, this paper proposed a hybrid scheme evaluation and optimization method based on entropy weight and VIKOR. The entropy weight method was used to reduce the subjectivity the decision-maker's weighting and obtain the objective weight of each indicator; The VIKOR method was used to obtain the best ranking of alternative schemes, and then the optimal interface design scheme was selected; Results: The evaluation of in-vehicle HUD interface design schemes were taken as an example for verification and calculation. The results showed that this method considers the subjectivity and uncertainty of the decision-making process in the optimization of design scheme, which can effectively improve the objectivity and accuracy of the evaluation results, and provide a reference for designers to optimize interface design schemes.

With increased vulnerabilities and vast technology landscapes, it is extremely critical to build systems which are highly resistant to cyber-attacks, to break into systems to exploit. It is almost impossible to build 100% secure authentication & authorization mechanisms merely through standard password / PIN (With all combinations of special characters, numbers & upper/lower case alphabets and by using any of the Graphical password mechanisms). The immense computing capacity and several hacking methods used, make almost every authentication method susceptible to cyber-attacks in one or the other way. Only proven / known system which is not vulnerable in spite of highly sophisticated computing power is, human brain. In this paper, we present a new method of authentication using a combination of computer’s computing ability in combination with human intelligence. In fact this human intelligence is personalized making the overall security method more secure. Text based passwords are easy to be cracked ^[6]. There is an increased need for an alternate and more complex authentication and authorization methods. Some of the Methods ^{[7] [8]} in the category of Graphical passwords could be susceptible, when Shoulder surfing/cameras/spy devices are used.

High-precision ground point cloud data has a wide range of applications in various fields, and the separation of ground points from non-ground points is a crucial preprocessing step. Therefore, designing an efficient, accurate, and stable ground extraction algorithm is of great significance for improving the processing efficiency and analysis accuracy of point cloud data. The study area in this article was a Park in Guilin, Guangxi, China. The point cloud was obtained by utilizing the UAV platform. In order to improve the stability and accuracy of the Filter algorithm, this article proposed a triangular grid filter based on Slope Filter, found violation points by the spatial position relationship within each point in the triangulation network, improved KD-Tree-Based Euclidean Clustering, and applied it to the non-ground points extraction, this method has good accuracy, stability and achieves good results in separating ground points from non-ground points. At first, using Slope Filter to remove some non-ground points, to reduce the error of taking ground points as non-ground points; Secondly, established a triangular grid based on the triangular relationship between each point, the violation-triangle can determin through the grid, and then the corresponding violation points were found in the violation-triangle; Thirdly, according to the three-point collinear method to extract the regular points, used these points to extract the regular landmarks by KD-Tree-Based Euclidean Clustering and Convex Hull Algorithm; Finally, removed disperse points and irregular landmarks by Clustering Algorithm. In order to confirm the superiority of this algorithm, this article compared the filter effects of various algorithms on the study area and filtered the 15 sample data provided by ISPRS, and obtained an average error of 3. 46%. The results showed that the algorithm in this article have a high processing efficiency and accuracy, which can greatly improve the processing efficiency of point cloud data in practical applications.

Paleoclimatic and paleoceanographic studies routinely rely on the usage of foraminiferal calcite through faunal, morphometric and physico-chemical proxies. The application of such proxies presupposes the extraction and cleaning of these biomineralized components from ocean sediments in the most efficient way, a process which is often labor intensive and time consuming. In this respect, in this study we performed a systematic experiment for planktonic foraminiferal specimen cleaning using different chemical treatments and evaluated the resulting data of a Late Quaternary gravity core sample from the Aegean Sea. All cleaning procedures adopted here were made on the basis of their minimum potential bias upon foraminiferal proxies, such as the faunal assemblages, degree of fragmentation, stable isotope composition (δ18O and δ13C) and/or Mg/Ca ratios that are frequently used as proxies for surface-ocean climate parameters (e.g., sea surface temperature, sea surface salinity). Six different protocols were tested, involving washing, sieving, and chemical treatment of the samples with hydrogen peroxide and/or sodium hexametaphosphate (Calgon ®). Single species foraminifera shell weighing was combined with high-resolution Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and synchrotron X-ray Microtomography (SμCT) of the material processed by each of the cleaning protocols, in order to assess the decontamination degree of specimen’s ultrastructure and interior. It appeared that a good compromise between time and cleaning efficiency is the simultaneous treatment of samples with a mixed hydrogen peroxide and Calgon solution, while the most effective way for an almost complete decontaminate of the calcareous components from undesirable sedimentary material is a two-step treatment - initially with hydrogen peroxide and subsequently with Calgon solutions.

This paper shows a method for pipeline leak detection using a transient-based method with MATLAB® functions. The simulation of a pipeline systems in the time domain are very complex. In the case of the dissipative model, transfer functions are hyperbolic Bessel functions. Simulating a pipeline system in the frequency domain using a dissipative model we could find an approximate transfer function with equal frequency domain response to in order get the pipeline system's time domain response. The method described in this paper can be used to detect, by comparison, to detect a leak in a pipeline system model.

This study investigated the roles of low-molecular-weight fucoidan (LMWF) in enhancing the anti-cancer effects of fluoropyrimidine-based chemotherapy. HCT116 and Caco-2 cells were treated with LMWF and 5-FU. Cell viability, cell cycle, apoptosis, and migration were analyzed in both cell types. Potential mechanisms underlying how LMWF enhances the anti-cancer effects of fluoropyrimidine-based chemotherapy were also explored. The cell viability of HCT116 and Caco-2 cells was significantly reduced after treatment with a LMWF-5-FU combination. In HCT116 cells, LMWF enhanced the suppressive effects of 5-FU on cell viability through the 1) induction of cell cycle arrest in the S phase and 2) late apoptosis mediated by the Jun-N-terminal kinase (JNK) signaling pathway. In Caco-2 cells, LMWF enhanced the suppressive effects of 5-FU on cell viability through both c-mesenchymal–epithelial transition (MET)/ Kirsten Rat Sarcoma virus (KRAS)/ extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and c-MET/ phosphatidyl-inositol 3-kinases (PI3K)/ protein kinase B (AKT) signaling pathways. Moreover, LMWF enhanced the suppressive effects of 5-FU on tumor cell migration through the c-MET/ matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 signaling pathway in both HCT116 and Caco-2 cells. Our results demonstrated that LMWF is a potential complementary therapy for enhancing the efficacies of fluoropyrimidine-based chemotherapy in colorectal cancers (CRCs) with the wild-type or mutated KRAS gene through different mechanisms. However, in vivo studies and in clinical trials are required to validate the results of the present study.

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

A critical context is an essential aspect of practice-based research; however, a lack of structure exists to obtain and evaluate criticism from peers. This paper presents a case study of how the ‘silent student’ critique method used in Higher Education settings in the UK (Elkins, 2014) was adapted for a holographic arts research study. A ‘silent researcher’ critique session with nine experts was held in Aveiro, Portugal, June 2018 to evaluate the author’s digital holographic artwork, on display at the City Museum. The experts asked the author critical questions about the artwork while the author remained silent. The session was filmed, transcribed and processed using a general inductive approach for analysing qualitative evaluation data (Thomas, 2006). This paper outlines the benefits and drawbacks of using this new critique method for research. The benefits included; participant’s careful response to the artwork avoiding engagement of egos of critic and researcher, the drawbacks included the difficulty of evaluating against a pre-determined research question when the discussion could not be steered. This paper evaluates the artwork critiqued describing how the work contributes to the aesthetic development of the medium of holography; which used the Z-axis of holographic space to depict a chronological narrative.

Based on Venturini method, it is in favor of the modulation technique for controlling the matrix converter due to only use of the comparison between the duty cycles in time domain and the triangular carrier wave for generating the gating signals and the achievable voltage ratio between fundamental output magnitude and fundamental input magnitude to 0.866. However, even with simple modulation method and achieving maximum fundamental output magnitude, the possible input voltage unbalance conditions accordingly influence on the output performances (more reduction and distortion). Thus, a modified Venturini modulation method is presented in this paper, in order to solve the problems of unbalanced input voltage conditions on the matrix converter performances. The proposed strategy is to satisfy the desirable feature of the duty cycle modulating waves, as generated in the event of normal situation. Up to this approach, it can support either single-phase condition or two-phase condition. Performance of the proposed control strategy was verified by the simulated implementation in the MATLAB/Simulink software with showing good steady-state and dynamic operations.

Infiltration based stormwater best management practices bring considerable economic, social and ecological benefits. Controlling stormwater quantity and quality are primarily important to prevent urban flooding and minimizing loads of pollutants to the receiving waters. However, there have been growing concerns about how the traditional design approach contributes to the failure of infiltration based BMP’s that have caused flooding, ponding, prolonged movement of surface water, and frequent clogging, etc. Many of these problems were due to the fact that the current design approaches of stormwater BMP’s only focus on surface hydrology and give little or no attention to the underline subsoil permeability rate and other constraints during the design and sizing process. As a result, we are exhibiting many newly constructed infiltration based BMP’s are failing to function well. This paper presents and demonstrates a new paradigm shift in designing infiltration-based stormwater BMP’s by combining subsurface hydrology and undelaying native soil constraints to establish acceptable criteria for sizing infiltration based BMPs.

UAVNs (unmanned aerial vehicle networks) may become vulnerable to threats and attacks due to their characteristic features such as high mobility, highly dynamic network topology, and open-air wireless environments. Since previous work has focused on classical and metaheuristic-based approaches, none of these approaches have a self-adaptive approach. In this article, we examine the challenges of cyber detection methods to secure UAVNs and review exiting security schemes proposed in the current literature. Furthermore, we propose an agent-based self-protective method (ASP-UAVN) for UAVNs that is based on the Human Immune System (HIS). In ASP-UAS, the safest route from the source UAV to the destination UAV is chosen according to a self-protective system. In this method, a multi-agent system using an Artificial Immune System (AIS) is employed to detect the attacking UAV and choose the safest route. In the proposed ASP-UAVN, the route request packet (RREQ) is initially transmitted from the source UAV to the destination UAV to detect the existing routes. Then, once the route reply packet (RREP) is received, a self-protective method using agents and the knowledge base is employed to choose the safest route and detect the attacking UAVs. The method is evaluated here via extensive simulations carried out in the NS-3 environment. The experimental results of four scenarios demonstrated that the ASP-UAS increases the Packet Delivery Rate (PDR) by more than 17.4, 20.8, and 25.91%, and detection rate by more than 17.2, 23.1, and 29.3%, and decreases the Packet Loss Rate (PLR) by more than 14.4, 16.8, and 20.21%, the false-positive and false-negative rate by more than 16.5, 25.3, and 31.21% those of SUAS-HIS, SFA and BRUIDS methods, respectively.

Evidence indicates that unhealthy eating habits constitute multilevel obstacles threatening our health and well-being—studies suggesting that consumer choices turn irremovably towards Western diets. Mediterranean diets (MD) have been identified as one of the most effective in preventing and treating overweight and obesity. Considering this scientific substantiation in prevention and treatment activity, the purpose of this investigation is to verify this evidence. In our prospective interventional study, we examined the effect of MD on body weight in a female cohort sample. The analyzed group consisted of (n=181) females divided into three distinct groups based on their age (tricenarian, quadragenarian, and quinquagenarian). Anthropometric (weight, BMI, FATP, VFATL, FFM, TBW, and BMR), biochemical examinations (urea, creatinine, uric acid, ALT, AST, GGT, CHOL, HDL-CH, non-HDL, LDL-CH, TAG, GLU, and CRP) and comprehensive, personalized three months MD program was completed on the examined subjects. We didn’t establish convincing evidence of MD on weight reduction and its magnitude of correlation with a positive correspondence on selected determinants in all groups combined. There is a challenge to construct more robust prospective cohort studies that will incorporate add-on critical integrands that will be appropriate to monitor, evaluate and predict weight management in experimenting.

The use of whole-body vibration (WBV) for therapeutic purposes is far from being standardized and only very recently an empirical foundation for reporting guidelines for human WBV studies has been published. Controversies about safety and therapeutic dosage stll exist. The present study aimed to investigate the metabolic and mechanical effects of low-intensity WBV in according to the ISO 2631 norm on subjects with obesity. 41 obese subjects (BMI≥ 35 kg/mˆ2) were recruited to participate in a 3-week multidisciplinary inpatient rehabilitation program including fitness training and WBV training. During WBV the posture was monitored with an optoelectronic system with 6 infrared cameras (Vicon, Vicon Motion System, Oxford, UK). The primary endpoints were: variation in body composition, factors of the metabolic syndrome, functional activity (sit-to-stand and 6-min walking test), muscle strength, and quality of life. Secondary endpoints were: modification of irisin, testosterone, growth hormone, IGF1 levels. We observed significant changes in salivary irisin levels, Group 2 (p&lt;0.01) as compared to the control group, while muscle strength, function, and other metabolic and hormonal factors did not change after a 3-week low-intensity WBV training respect control group. Future studies are needed to deeper investigate the potential metabolic effect of low-intensity WBV in managing weight.

The advance of the medical field in the 21st century has influenced the development of many innovations, including in medical education. PBL (problem-based learning) is one of the pedagogical approaches that has been studying and implementing worldwide to attract medical students’ attention with their learning style and learning environment. China is the most significant “receiver” country of foreign students in Asia, and clinical medicine is one of the most chosen majors for undergraduate. In China, PBL has been implementing in some schools, but mostly with the local students and only a few implementations to the international students. International medical students in China faced a variety of challenges during their studies. In this review paper, we give the solution to adapt to the challenges by focusing on the implementation the integrated organ/system curriculum/syllabus with the PBL method to the school system with the support of the school stakeholders and students’ role.

This case study features an observation of an obese female (body mass index ≥ 30 kgm-2) who undertook a 10-day water and electrolyte fast with the aim of reducing body fat and improving physiological markers of health. A comprehensive range of physiological measures (body mass, girths, blood pressure, body fluid balance, urine osmolarity, and resting oxygen consumption), mood indicators, metabolic markers (blood ketones, blood glucose, breath ketones, urine ketones), and measurement of intake and expenditure (fluid intake, food intake, nutritional macros, steps taken, and estimated movement caloric expenditure) were measured before, during and after the fasting period to determine the effectiveness of undertaking extended therapeutic fasting for improving markers of health and weight loss. Body mass on the first day of the fast was 95.1 kg and on the tenth and final day of the fast it was 88.1 kg representing a loss of 7 kg at a rate of 0.7 kg·day1. Mean body mass in the 15 days after the fast was 88.3 ± 0.4 kg. This case study is novel in reporting key physiological and psychological markers over a 10-day fast, and in pre- and post-fast periods. A 10-day fast appears to be a safe and effective method of weight loss, mood is positively affected by fasting and weight loss from fasting can be sustained providing care is taken in the approach to post-fasting nutrition.

This study aimed to investigate the effect of reducing the amount of organic waste on the weight of cats in Tehran. The weight of 4192 cats was measured from spring 2016 to the end of winter 2020. They were classified into 6 age groups, 2 gender groups, and 13 geographical areas. Their weight was measured for 48 months (16 seasons). The statistical parameters analysis showed no weight loss in 2017, but since 2018, cats have been losing weight every year. They had lost about 178g of their weight in 2018. The sharpest annual decrease was observed in 2019 when about 301g of weight loss was recorded. In the winter of 2020, 115g of weight loss took place. In the spring of 2017, no weight change was observed, but in the spring of 2018, the cats lost 155g of their weight. Their weight loss intensified in the spring of 2019 and about 299g of weight loss was observed. In the summer of 2017, as in the spring of the same year, no weight loss was recorded, but for the summer of 2018, the weight loss was evident and about 205g of the weight of the cats had been reduced. The weight loss in the summer of 2019 not only continued but intensified and about 304g of weight loss was recorded for cats. Weight change was not observed in the fall of 2017 as in the spring and summer of the same year. In the fall of 2018, weight loss was recorded for cats. They had lost about 324g of their weight in the fall of 2018. Also, they experienced a weight loss of about 218g in the fall of 2019. During the spring, summer, and autumn of 2017, no weight loss was observed in the cats for the winter of 2018, but in the winter of 2019, the cats faced the most severe weight loss (seasonally). They lost about 401g of weight in the winter of 2019. Of course, in the winter of 2020, about 186g of weight loss was observed in cats. The results showed that female cats did not lose weight in 2017 but experienced weight loss in 2018 with a weight loss of 181g. The weight loss of females intensified in 2019 and 294g of weight loss was recorded. Female cats lost 186g of their weight in the winter of 2020. Male cats did not lose weight like female cats in 2017. But in 2018, a weight loss of 166g was observed in male cats. The weight loss of male cats continued in 2019 and 311g of weight loss was recorded for them. However, in 2020, unlike females, weight loss was not observed in male cats. It can be said that both sexes lost more weight in the winter of 2019 than in other seasons. In 2017, weight loss was observed only for the region of 10, and in the same year, weight gain was recorded for the region of 15. But in 2018, except for regions 3, 4, 15, and 19, weight loss was observed in other regions. In 2019, the weight loss of cats spread and weight loss was observed in all regions except the region of 12. In winter 2020, weight loss was recorded only in the region of 4. In the end, it can be concluded that the weight of cats has decreased since the spring of 2018 because the beginning of the decrease in the amount of organic waste has been recorded since the winter of 2018. So, there is a direct relationship between the weight of cats and the amount of organic waste (access to food). The amount of garbage has been decreasing since the winter of 2018, and the average weight of cats has also been decreasing since the spring of 2018 due to the decrease in access to food.

This study explored intraindividual multidimensional profiles integrating psychosocial factors, namely, body image and satisfaction, weight-related self-stigma, positivity, and happiness, and behavioural-lifestyle factors, namely, adherence to a healthy diet, among Spanish adults with overweight or obesity. We further aimed to investigate the association of excess weight (i.e., measured body mass index, BMI) with the abovementioned multidimensional configurations. A convenience sample of adult individuals with excessive weight completed self-reports regarding the study variables, and their weight and height were measured. With a perspective centered on the individual, a cluster analysis established three distinct intraindividual psychosocial and diet-related profiles: a group of healthy individuals with excess weight; a group of individuals who were negatively affected by their excessive weight and showed the most distressed profile; and a group of dysfunctional individuals who seemed to be excessively unrealistic and optimistic regarding their excessive weight and unhealthy lifestyles. Furthermore, individuals in the affected cluster had higher obesity. The results showed that there are specific psychosocial and lifestyle profiles in the adult population with excess weight and that there are relationships among psychological, behavioural, and body-composition factors. For clinical application purposes, it is important to account for the heterogeneity within individuals who are obese and to individualize the interventions, with a focus from weight change to individual's overall well-being.

This study explored intraindividual multidimensional profiles integrating psychosocial factors, namely, body image and satisfaction, weight-related self-stigma, positivity, and happiness, and behavioural-lifestyle factors, namely, adherence to a healthy diet, among Spanish adults with overweight or obesity. We further aimed to investigate the association of excess weight (i.e., measured body mass index, BMI) with the abovementioned multidimensional configurations. A convenience sample of adult individuals with excessive weight completed self-reports regarding the study variables, and their weight and height were measured. With a perspective centred on the individual, a cluster analysis established three distinct intraindividual psychosocial and diet-related profiles: a group of healthy individuals with excess weight; a group of individuals who were negatively affected by their excessive weight and showed the most distressed profile; and a group of dysfunctional individuals who seemed to be excessively unrealistic and optimistic regarding their excessive weight and unhealthy lifestyles. Furthermore, individuals in the affected cluster had higher obesity. The results showed that there are specific psychosocial and lifestyle profiles in the adult population with excess weight and that there are relationships among psychological, behavioural, and body-composition factors. For clinical application purposes, it is important to account for the heterogeneity within individuals who are obese.

The Soil Conservation Service - Curve Number (SCS-CN) method is extensively used to calculate the runoff from rainfall over a large catchment over the world. Slope is an important criterion for runoff but a very few attempts have been made to evaluate the effect of slope on the CN with runoff potential. The objective of this paper is to summarise the historical review on the effects of slope on CN and runoff potential in various regions by the hydrologists. This paper also depicts that how the various researchers proved the importance of consideration of slope for CN and runoff estimation. In addition, paper highlights the key features of research in future like to classify the watersheds on slope based CN, accurate Antecedent Moisture Condition (AMC) and proper initial abstraction in the various regions etc. Considering these parameters an accurate runoff estimation can be predicted and managed properly in the urban watersheds.

the intermittency and variability of these permeated Distributed Generators (DGs) could critically cause many security and economy risks to distribution systems. This paper applied a certain mathematical distribution to imitate the output variability and uncertainty of DGs. And then, four risk indices EENS, PLC, EFLC and SI were established to reflect the system risk level of distribution system. For the certain mathematical distribution of the DGs' output power, a developed PEM (point estimate method)-based method was proposed to calculate these four system risk indices. In this developed PEM-based method, enumeration method was used to list the states of distribution systems, an improved PEM was presented to deal with the uncertainties of DGs and the value of load curtailment in distribution systems was calculated by an optimal power flow algorithm. Finally, the effectiveness and advantages of this proposed PEM-based method for distribution system assessment were verified by the tests of a modified IEEE 30-bus system. Simulation results have shown that this proposed PEM-based method has a high computational accuracy and highly reduced computational costs compared with other risk assessment methods and is very effective for risk assessments.

This research investigates the effect of pre-soaking treatment on plant-based aggregate using a wet grout binder to formulate a high-strength lightweight concrete (HSLWC). The surface modification utilising a novel grout soaking technique with various water-to-cement (w/c) ratios indicated a new method of approach for the recent development of lightweight plant-based aggregate (LWPA). In this experiment, the fresh and hardened properties of modified LWPA lightweight concrete were assessed by verifying their workability, densities, compressive and split tensile strengths towards the modulus of elasticity. The results showed that pre-soaking plant-based lightweight aggregate (w/c: 0.6, 0.8, 1.0, and 1.2) slightly increased the density of the samples compared to untreated LWPA. The oven-dry density of treated and untreated LWPA is controlled in the range of HSLWC. The outcomes indicated that the workability of the surface- modified LWPA has significant improvement up to 40% in 6 min for (TDS)/0.6 sample compared to the original LWPA. The mechanical properties of the LWPA concrete with surface modification method exhibit substantial increment of compressive strength, split tensile strength, and modulus of elasticity were recorded at 22%, 26%, and 34%, respectively. Significantly, the findings from this scientific method revealed that the pre-soaking treatment method on LWPA has shown to be a highly recommended technique in improving interfacial bonding while performing as one of the most promising solutions to improve the properties of lightweight concrete.

To understand the mechanisms involved in the anti-obesity effects Centella asi-atica (CA), we examined body weight, serum levels, white adipose tissue (WAT) weight, histological analysis, and the expression of cholesterol homeostasis- and lipid metabolism-related genes in mice with high-fat, high-sugar diet (HFHSD)-induced obesity that were orally treated with CA for 12 weeks. Eight-week-old, male C57BL/6J mice were assigned to the following four groups (eight mice/group): NOR, normal diet; Control, HFHSD; CA-L, HFHSD+CA 300 mg/kg; CA-H, HFHSD+CA 600 mg/kg. CA treatment signifi-cantly attenuated HFHSD-induced increase in body weight gain, serum glucose, serum triacylglycerol, and WAT weight (p < 0.05). Compared to that in Control group, adipocyte diameter and macrovesicular area of epididymal WAT signif-icantly decreased with CA treatment (p < 0.05). The mRNA expression levels of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ), fatty acid synthase (FAS), cluster of differentiation 36 (CD36), 3- hydroxyl-3-methylglutaryl CoA reductase (HMGCR), and stearoyl CoA desaturase 1 (SCD 1) were significantly downregulated in the CA-H group compared to the Control group (p < 0.05). CA exerts anti-obesity effects by lowering body fat accumulation via regulat-ing gene expression in the liver and thus, is a potential lipid-lowering agent.

Purposely slow velocity resistance exercise (i.e., 10 s concentric and eccentric phases) is a popular training method, but limits the loads that can be lifted (e.g., <50% 1 RM). This study compared the biomechanical properties of purposely slow velocity (SLOW) and traditional resistance exercise (TRAD) that uses maximal lifting velocities. Healthy resistance-trained men (n=5) performed two testing sessions (barbell squat and bench press) in random-order; a SLOW session (1 set x 10 repetitions at 28% 1 RM, 10 s concentric & eccentric), and a TRAD session (3 x 10 at 70% 1 RM, controlled eccentric and maximal concentric). A force plate and linear position transducer were used to collect kinetic and kinematic data for every repetition of both protocols (α = 0.05). For both exercises, both concentric and eccentric mean force (N) and power (W) for each repetition was greater for TRAD. When the entire training session (squat + bench press) was examined, SLOW exhibited greater time under tension, while TRAD produced greater work (J) and impulse (N·s). Contrary to suggestions in both the lay and scientific literature, purposely slow resistance exercise produced less force, power, and work than traditional velocity resistance exercise.

In this brief paper a quantum algorithm to calculate the Hamming distance of two binary strings of equal length (or messages in theory information) is presented. The algorithm calculates the Hamming weight of two binary strings in one query of an oracle. To calculate the hamming distance of these two strings we only have to calculate the Hamming weight of the xor operation of both strings. To test the algorithms the quantum computer prototype that IBM has given open access to on the cloud has been used to test the results.

Background and objectives: The impact of prenatal exposure to polycyclicaromatic 17 hydrocarbons (PAHs) on birth outcomes as weight, length, head circumference, placenta 18 weight, and Apgar. Materials and Methods: Two cohorts of children born in the years 2013 and 19 2014 in Karvina (Northern Moravia, N=144) and Ceske Budejovice (Southern Bohemia, 20 N=198), were studied for the relationship between the prenatal exposure to PAHs and growth 21 parameters up to two years of age. PAHs exposure was evaluated according to the concentration 22 of benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P) in polluted air and monohydroxylated PAH metabolites (OH-PAHs) 23 in urine of newborns as well as their mothers. Data of growth parameters were obtained from 24 pediatric questionnaires up to 24 months. 25 Results: Concentrations of B[a]P were significantly higher in Karvina (p<0.001). OH-26 PAH metabolites were significantly higher in the mothers´ as well as in the newborns´ urine in 27 Karvina. The length was shorter in newborns in Karvina at birth (p<0.001), but this difference 28 was straightened out during next 3 to 24 months. Birth weight at the delivery did not differ 29 between newborns in Karvina and Ceske Budejovice. Newborns in both locations significantly 30 decreased their weight gain between birth and 3 months after delivery. OH-PAHs metabolites 31 in mother’s or newborn’s urine did not affect birth weight. Top 25% values of concentrations 32 of 2-OH-FLUO, 1-OH-NAP, 2-OH-NAP, 1-OH-PHEN, 2-OH-PHEN, 3-OH-PHEN, 4-OH-33 PHEN, and the sum of all-OH-PAHs higher than median in the newborns´ urine decreased their 34 length. 2-OH-PHEN top 25% of concentrations in the newborns´ urine decreased their head 35 circumference, 2-OH-FLUO, 1-OH-NAP, 2-OH-NAP, 1-OH-PHEN, 2-OH-PHEN, 3-OH-36 PHEN, 4-OH-PHEN, 9-OH-PHEN, 1-OH-PYR, and all-OH-PAHs decreased placenta weight; 37 2-OH-FLUO, 1-OH-NAP, 2-OH-NAP, 1-OH-PHEN, 2-OH-PHEN, 3-OH-PHEN, 4-OH-38 PHEN, and all-OH-PAHs decreased Apgar 5´. Conclusions: We observed that higher 39 concentration of PAHs determined as OH-PAHs metabolites in newborns´ urine decreased their 40 length, head circumference, placenta weight, and Apgar 5´, but did not affect birth weight.

A claim management office (CMO) is a new intra-organisation fit based on an organisational project management (OPM) approach and deals specifically with improving claim performance. However, CMO is either misunderstood or often overlooked in construction companies, mainly due to ignorance of the OPM context but further exacerbated by a lack of real case study research on how to adopt CMO in these organisations. This study addresses this prevailing knowledge gap by investigating the nature of the construction industry from the CMO viewpoint and developing an extensive framework through which to improve organisational claims performance. Organisational ambidexterity theory integrated with X-inefficiency theory is adopted for claims performance outcomes, due to organisation intra-firm irrational decisions when managing such claims. Data was obtained and analysed from a international large construction company (which used CMOs) and its internal focus group discussion (as a multi-method approach). The reference framework provides new perspectives on how construction-related companies can adopt a CMO structure, which enables them to improve claims performance by planning in three interrelated activities viz. function-, process- and performance-based-. Furthermore, findings contribute to researchers and practitioners by providing a true understanding of the CMO-related mechanism and plausible roadmap for future work.

The transport sector in Germany causes one-quarter of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions. One potential solution to reduce these emissions is the use of battery electric vehicles. Although a number of life cycle assessments have been conducted for these vehicles, the influence of a transport system wide transition has not been researched sufficiently. Therefore, we developed a method which combines life cycle assessment with an agent-based transport simulation and synthetic electric, diesel and gasoline powered vehicle models. We use the transport simulation to obtain the number of vehicles, their lifetime mileage and road-specific consumption. Subsequently we analyze the product systems’ vehicle production, use phase and End-of-Life. The results are scaled depending on the covered distance, the vehicle weight and the consumption for the whole life cycle. The results indicate that the sole transition of drive trains is insufficient to significantly lower the greenhouse gas emissions. However, sensitivity analyses demonstrate that there is a considerable potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions with higher shares of renewable energies, a different vehicle distribution and a higher lifetime mileage. The method facilitates the assessment of the ecological impacts of the complete car based transportation in urban agglomerations and is able to analyze different transport sectors.

Impervious surface mapping with high-resolution remote sensing imagery has attracted increasing interest as it can provide detailed information for urban structure and distribution. Previous studies have suggested that the combination of LiDAR data and high-resolution imagery for impervious surface mapping performs better than using only high-resolution imagery. However, due to the high cost of the acquisition of LiDAR data, it is difficult to obtain the multi-sensor remote sensing data acquired at the same acquisition time for impervious surface mapping. Consequently, real landscape changes between multi-sensor remote sensing data at different acquisition times would lead to the error of misclassification in impervious surface mapping. This issue has mostly been neglected in previous works. Furthermore, the observation differences generated from multi-sensor data, including the problems of misregistration, missing data in LiDAR data, and shadow in high-resolution images would also challenge the final mapping result in the fusion of LiDAR data and high-resolution images. In order to conquer these problems, we propose an improved impervious surface mapping method incorporating both LiDAR data and high-resolution imagery at different acquisition times in consideration of real landscape changes and observation differences. In the proposed method, a multi-sensor change detection by supervised multivariate alteration detection is employed to obtain changed areas and misregistration areas. The no-data areas in the LiDAR data and the shadow areas in the high-resolution imagery are extracted by independent classification yielded by its corresponding single sensor data. Finally, an object-based post-classification fusion is proposed to take advantage of independent classification results with single-sensor data and the joint classification result with stacked multi-sensor data. Experiments covering the study site in Buffalo, NY, USA demonstrate that our method can accurately detect landscape changes and obviously improve the performance of impervious surface mapping.

In situ imaging of molecular markers on a physical chromosome is an indispensable tool for refin-ing of genetic maps and validation genome assembly at the chromosomal level. Despite tremen-dous progress in genome sequencing the plant genome assembly at chromosome level still remain a challenge. Recently developed optical and Hi-C mapping aim to assist in genome assembly. For high-confidence in the genome assembly at chromosome level more independent approaches will be required. The present study aimed to refined an ultrasensitive Tyr-FISH technique and to de-velop a reliable and easy method for in situ mapping of a short unique DNA sequences on plant chromosomes. We have carefully analyzed the critical steps of the Tyr-FISH technique to find out the reasons for the failures of using the method. It has been shown that successful visualization of marker/gene depends significantly on method of chromosome slide preparation, probe design and labelling, high stringency washing. Appropriate adjustment of these steps allowed us to detect a short DNA sequence of 1.7Kb with a frequency of 51.6%. Based on our results, we developed a reliable and simple protocol for dual-color Tyr-FISH visualization of short unique DNA sequences on plant chromosomes. New protocol allows more accurate determination of the physical distance between markers and can be applied for faster integration of genetic and cytogenetic maps.

This paper presents an Application Based Active Learning (ABAL) methodology on Power Electronics (PE) and Electric Machines (EM) as a hybrid laboratory course for the undergraduate students to design and implement the real-world engineering problems. The ABAL is a type of active learning which is a branch of Learner-centered teaching (LCT). The DC/DC converter along with the speed control of DC separately excites the motor. In addition, a DC/AC converter is designed to control the speed of an induction motor. The results are then investigated on a hardware platform under the ABAL experimental methodology. This paper also discusses the problem identification selection of the equipment, circuit design, hardware mounting and critical analysis of the results acquired from the hybrid laboratory. The ABAL methodology was evaluated based on student satisfaction, feedback, grades and interest to solve the real-world problem rather than cramming the engineering concepts and fulfill so-called lab routine and tasks

Background: Vitamin D was studied in regards to its possible impact on body mass reduction and metabolic changes in adults and children with obesity yet there were no studies assessing the impact of vitamin D supplementation during a weight management programme in children and adolescence. The aim of our study was to assess the influence of 26 weeks of vitamin D supplementation in overweight and obese children undergoing an integrated 12-months’ long weight loss programme on body mass reduction, body composition and bone mineral density. Methods: A double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial. Vitamin D deficient patients ( <30 ng/ml level of vitamin D) aged 6-14, participating in multidisciplinary weight management programme were randomly allocated to receiving vitamin D (1200 IU) or placebo for the first 26 weeks of the intervention. Results: Out of the 152 qualified patients, 109 (72%) completed a full cycle of four visits scheduled in the programme. There were no difference in the level of BMI change. Although the reduction was greater in the vitamin D vs. placebo group (-4.28 ± 8.43 vs. -2.53 ±6.10) the difference was not statistically significant (p=0.319). Similarly the reduction in fat mass – assessed both using bioimpedance and DEXa was achieved, yet the differences between the groups were not statistically significant. Conclusions: Our study ads substantial results to support the thesis on no effect of vitamin D supplementation on body weight reduction in children and adolescents with vitamin D insufficiency undergoing a weight management programme. Trial registration no: NCT 02828228; trial registration date: 8 June 2016 registered in: ClinicalTrials.gov.

Levan is a fructan-type exopolysaccharide, which is produced by many microbes from sucrose via extracellular levansucrases. The hydrocolloid properties of levan depend on its molecular weight, while it is unknown why and to which extent levan is functionally diverse in dependence of its size. The aim of our study was to get deeper insights into the size-dependent, functional variability of levan. For this purpose, levans of different sizes were produced using the water kefir isolate Gluconobacter albidus TMW 2.1191 and subsequently rheologically characterized. Three levan types could be identified, which are similarly branched, but significantly differ in their molecular size and rheological properties among each other. The smallest levan (< 107 Da) produced without adjustment of the pH exhibited Newton-like flow behavior up to a specific concentration of 25% (w/v). On the contrary, larger levans (> 108 Da) produced at pH ≥ 4.5 were shear-thinning and showed a gel like behavior at ≥ 5% (w/v). A third (intermediate) levan variant was obtained via production in buffers at pH 4.0 and exhibited the properties of a viscoelastic fluid at ≥ 5% (w/v). Our study reveals that the variable size and composition of levan are controllable and more decisive for its functionality than the amount of exerted levan.

A divergent selection experiment on environmental sensitivity was performed in rabbits. The aim of this study was to estimate the correlated response in kits’ weight and its survival, and weight distance from birth to weaning. Weight distance was calculated as the absolute values of the differences between the individual value and the mean value of its litter. Also, relationship between probability of survival at 4 d of age and weight at birth was studied. Environmental sensitivity was measured as litter size variability. A total of 2484 kits from 127 does of the low line (selected for reducing litter size variability) and 1916 kits of 114 does of the high line (selected for increasing litter size variability) of the 12th generation were weighed. Bayesian methodology was used to estimate the correlated response to selection, and LOGISTIC procedure of SAS was used to estimate the relationship between weight and probability of survival. Both lines showed similar individual weight at birth and at weaning, and similar survival at birth and at 4 d of age. Survival at weaning was higher in the low line than in the high line (0.67 and 0.62; P= 0.93). Weight distance was higher at birth but lower at weaning in the low line (47.8 g and 54.1 g; P=0.98). Kit’s weight at birth affected its survival. In conclusion, selection for environmental sensitivity showed correlated response in kits survival and in homogeneity of litter weight at weaning.

Background Children often suffer the nonspecific musculosceletal pain as reported in literature. Aim To determine relationship between body weights with development of musculoskeletal pain and to determine whether growing in body height is associated with musculoskeletal pain in schoolchildren. Subjects/ Methods A prospective longitudinal study included 1315 school children aged 7-14 years (652 boys and 663 girls) and was performed in 13 elementary schools in B&H. Child body height and body weight were measured. The survey of perception of musculoskeletal pain in different body regions of subjects was conducted by adjusted Nordic Musculosceletal Questionnaire (NMQ). Results The highest prevalence of an overweight and obesity in the 10th year 35.7% and the lowest frequency 17.8% in the 14th year was. In the age 14th obesity was’nt found. Boys have more prevalence of overweight. Using logistic regression model, we found that school children with normal BMI were protected with increased body height of acute lower back pain (β= -0.089, 95%CI, -9.730- -0.023, P< 0.049), and increased body height was protector of obese school children of acute upper back pain (β= -0.356, 95%CI, -14.077- -3.878, P< 0.001) and chronic lower back pain (β= -0.356, 95%CI, -14.077- -3.878, P< 0.001). Conclusion Schoolchildren with normal weight more often have had musculosceletal pain than those with overweight or obesity. This can be associated with intense physical growth period in height, especially. The assumption is that the increase in height changes the relationship between excessive BMI and musculoskeletal pain in children of school age.

People often say that beer tastes better from a bottle than from a can. However, one can ask whether this perceived difference is reliable across consumers; And, if so, whether it is purely a psychological phenomenon (associated with the influence of packaging on taste perception), or whether instead it reflects some more mundane physico-chemical interaction between the packaging material (or packing procedure/process) and the contents. We conducted two experiments in order to address these important questions. In the main experiment, 151 participants at the 2016 Edinburgh Science Festival were served a beer in a plastic cup. The beer was either poured from a bottle or can (i.e., a between-participants experimental design was used) and the participants were encouraged to pick up the packaging in order to inspect the label before tasting the beer. The participants rated the perceived taste, quality, and freshness of the beer, as well as their likelihood of purchase, and their estimate of the price. All of the beer came from the same batch (from Barney’s Brewery in Edinburgh). Nevertheless, those who evaluated the bottled beer rated it as tasting better than those who rated the beer that had been served from a can. Having demonstrated such a perceptual difference in terms of taste, we then went on to investigate whether people would prefer one packaging format over the other when the beer from bottle and can was served to a new group of participants blind (i.e., when the participants did not know the packaging material). The participants in this control study (N = 29) were asked which beer they preferred or else could state that the two samples tasted the same. No sign of preference was obtained under such conditions. Explanations for the psychological impact of the packaging format, in terms of differences in packaging weight (between tin and glass), and/or prior associations of quality with specific packaging materials/formats (what some have chosen to call ‘image molds’) are discussed.

This paper proposes a Case-Based Reasoning (CBR) system to contribute to reinforce the sustainable performance of an environmental management system. The CBR system aims to support the decision-making process to select environmental management actions aimed at reducing risky trends of the environmental state of a region. The CBR system takes advantage of a set of situation-solution pairs called cases, which are stored in a memory and then retrieved as candidates to solve new problems. Situations in this work are represented by a set of risky trends of the following key environmental variables: CO2 emissions, Air-Quality, Loss of Vegetation Cover, Water Availability, and Solid Waste, whose combination damage the environmental state quality of a region. Meanwhile, solutions are represented by a set of environmental management actions. Similar situations to a given current situation are retrieved from the memory of cases and then their solutions are combined, through an adaptation mechanism, until the solution of the current problem is obtained. We used risky trends derived from real data related to the environmental states of a Mexican region to test the proposed CBR system. The results obtained provided insights into the potential of CBR systems to support the decision-making process to select environmental management actions aimed at reducing risky trends of current environmental states.

Waterbomb structures are origami-inspired deformable structural components used in new types of robots. They have a unique radially deployable ability that enables robots to better adapt to their environment. In this paper, we propose a series of new waterbomb structures with square, rectangle, and parallelogram base units. Through quasi-static axial and radial compression experiments and numerical simulations, we prove that the parallelogram waterbomb structure has a twist displacement mode along the axial direction. Compared with the square waterbomb structure, the proposed optimal design of the parallelogram waterbomb structure reduces the critical axial buckling load-to-weight ratio by 55.4% and increases the radial stiffness-to-weight ratio by 67.6%. The significant increase in the radial stiffness-to-weight ratio of the waterbomb structure and decrease in the critical axial buckling load-to-weight ratio make the proposed origami pattern attractive for practical robotics applications.

The detection and quantification of protein–protein interactions (PPIs) is a crucial technique that often involves the use of recombinant proteins with fusion-protein tags, such as maltose-binding protein (MBP) and glutathione-S-transferase (GST). In this study, we improved the cohesive and sticky properties of gelatinized starch by supplementing it with agarose, resulting in a harder gel that could coat the bottom of a microtiter plate. The resulting gelatinized starch/agarose mixture allowed for the efficient immobilization of MBP-tagged proteins on the coated plates, enabling the use of indirect ELISA-like PPI assays. By using the enzymatic activity of GST as an indicator, we succeeded in determining the dissociation constants between MBP-tagged and GST-tagged proteins on 96-well microtiter plates and a microplate reader without any expensive specialized equipment.

With the continuous development of Artificial Intelligence technology and Internet of Things engineering, more and more driver-less vehicles have been developed and put into the industrial production. The birth of driver-less vehicles undoubtedly brings new vitality to a large amount of industries, particularly in transportation. For the mining industry, transportation is undoubtedly an extremely important link in the whole production process. If the driver-less vehicles can be applied to the underground mines, it can not only improve the production and transportation capacity of the whole mine, but also can reduce the occurrence of many mine safety accidents. ZigBee WSN technology can play a greater role in the narrow environment like underground mines according to the relevant literature, this concept paper just like a engineering project plan mainly tries to integrate the ZigBee WSN technology and the communication-based train control (CBTC) system to explore the possibility of the driver-less vehicles to be used in the underground mines, which aims to solve practical engineering problems for the engineering projects. As the mining engineers, we put forward the concept of this integrated system in this concept paper, but we need to continue to work hard for the future of the underground mines. This concept paper serves just as a guide to the Tossing out a brick to get a jade gem, has a few implications for the development of underground mine transportation.

Overweight and Obesity (Ow/Ob) is a risk factor for developing cardiometabolic disease, and metabolic dysfunction. Dietary interventions, such as caloric restriction (CR), have been explored but little is known about the acute effects of CR and often such diets are not standardized. PURPOSE: To assess the impact of a standardized 3-day CR diet (~590kcal/d) on cardiometabolic health and fat metabolism in Ow/Ob individuals. METHODS: Fifteen Ow/Ob men and women were assessed pre-post 3-day CR using standardized diet; specifically, body weight/composition (% body fat, visceral fat score (Vfs), waist-hip circumferences, blood pressure and vascular stiffness, resting energy expenditure (REE), substrate utilization (respiratory quotient, RQ), and blood glucose/lipid profile. RESULTS: CR induced changes in body weight (93.1±15.2 to 90.67±14.4 kg, p&lt;0.001, d=1.9), body mass index (32.9±4.0 to 32.0±3.7 kg/m2, p&lt;0.001, d=1.4), body fat (37.2±7.5 to 35.8±7.5%, p=0.002, d=1.1) and Vfs (13.1±4.5 to 12.2±3.9 a.u., p=0.002, d=1.1), but not body water (46.3±3.6 to 46.0±3.6%, p=0.29, d=0.3). CR had no effect on peripheral (86±5 to 89±5 mmHg, p=0.23, d=0.3) or central mean arterial pressure (86±5 to 87±6 mmHg, p=0.44, d=0.2), but lowered augmentation index (29.8±17.5 to 21.5±14.5%, p=0.05, d=0.6). Blood glucose (86±7 to 84±11 mg/dl, p=0.33, d=0.3) and blood lipids (total cholesterol (196±49 to 203±54 mg/dl, p=0.16, d=0.4) and TC/HDL (4.9±2.4 to 6.1±4.7, p=0.13, d=0.4)) were unchanged. RQ decreased with CR (0.84±0.01 to 0.76±0.00, p&lt;0.001, d=1.9), though REE was unchanged (1718±274 to 1722±317 kcal/d, p=0.83, d=0.1). CONCLUSION: The 3-day CR significantly improved body weight and composition and fat metabolism, with minimal cardiovascular effects.

Background: Students in the United States gain weight significantly during their first year of university, however limited data are available for Australian students. Methods: This 12-month observational study was conducted to monitor monthly body weight and composition, as well as quarterly eating behaviours, dietary intake, physical activity, sedentary behaviours, and basal metabolic rate changes amongst first-year Australian university students. Participants were first-year university students over 18 years. Results: Twenty-two first-year university students (5 males and 17 females) completed the study. Female students gained weight significantly at two, three, and four-months (+0.9 kg; +1.5 kg; +1.1 kg, p <0.05). Female waist circumference (2.5 cm increase at three-months, p = 0.012), and body fat also increased (+0.9%, p = 0.026 at three-months). Intakes of sugar, saturated fat (both >10% of total energy), and sodium exceeded recommended levels (>2000 mg) at 12-months. Greater sedentary behaviours were observed amongst male students throughout the study (p <0.05). Conclusions: Female students are at risk of unfavourable changes in body composition during the first year of university, while males are at risk of increased sedentary behaviours. High intakes of saturated fat, sugars, and sodium warrant future interventions in such a vulnerable group.

In this article, some notions about set, weight of set, number, number's position, special vertex are introduced. Some classes of graph under these new notions have been opted as if the study on the special attributes of these new notion when they've acted amid each other is considered. Internal and external relations amid these new notions have been obtained as if some classes of graphs in the matter of these notions are been pointed out.

In this article, some notions about set, weight of set, number, number's position, special vertex are introduced. Some classes of graph under these new notions have been opted as if the study on the special attributes of these new notion when they've acted amid each other is considered. Internal and external relations amid these new notions have been obtained as if some classes of graphs in the matter of these notions are been pointed out.

We propose a new estimator for creating expansion factors for survey plots in the USDA Forest Inventory and Analysis program. This is a regularized version of the raking estimator widely used in sample surveys. The regularized raking method differs from other predictive modeling methods for integrating survey and ancillary data in that it produces a single set of expansion factors that can have general purpose use to produce small area estimates and wall-to-wall maps of any plot characteristic. This method also differs from other more widely used survey techniques, such of GREG estimation, in that it is guaranteed to produce positive expansion factors. We extend the previous method here to include cross-validation, and provide a comparison to expansion factors between the regularized raking and ridge GREG survey calibration.

Objective: To assess the effects of chronic walnut consumption on body weight and adiposity in elderly individuals. Methods: The Walnuts And Healthy Aging study is a dual-center (Barcelona, Spain and Loma Linda University [LLU]), 2-year randomized parallel trial. This report concerns only the LLU cohort. Healthy elders (mean age 69 y, 67% women) were randomly assigned to walnut (n = 183) or control diets (n = 173). Subjects in the walnut group received packaged walnuts (28–56 g/d), equivalent to ≈15% of daily energy requirements, to incorporate into their habitual diet, while those in the control group abstained from walnuts. Adiposity was measured periodically, and data were adjusted for in-trial changes in self-reported physical activity. Results: After 2 years, body weight significantly decreased (P = 0.031), while body fat significantly increased (P = 0.0001). However, no significant differences were observed between the control and walnut groups regarding body weight (−0.6 kg and −0.4 kg, respectively, P = 0.67) or body fat (+0.9% and +1.3%, respectively, P = 0.53). Lean body mass, waist circumference and waist-to-hip ratio remained essentially unchanged. Sensitivity analyses were consistent with the findings of primary analysis. Conclusion: Our findings indicate that walnuts can be incorporated into the daily diet of healthy elders without concern for adverse effects on body weight or body composition.

The global polyvinyldene flouride market is estimated to reach $937,278.5 thousand by 2019, therefore to develop new membranes and gain pioneering ideas, which could create innovative business opportunities, a fundamental knowledge about membrane properties fabricated from recent commercially available PVDF polymers is highly mandatory. In this study, we successfully prepared nine non-woven supported PVDF membranes using a phase inversion precipitation method starting from a 15 wt% PVDF solution in N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone. Various membrane morphologies were obtained by using (1) PVDF polymers with diverse molecular weight in a range from 300.000 Da to 700.000 Da and (2) different temperatures of the coagulation bath (20, 40, and 60 ±2°C) used for the films precipitation. Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope (ESEM) was used for surface and cross-section morphologies characterization. Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) was employed to investigate surface roughness, while Contact Angle (CA) instrument was used for membranes wettability studies. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) results show that the fabricated membranes are formed by a mixture of TGTG’ chains in α phase crystalline domains and all-TTTT trans planar zigzag chains characteristic to β phase. Moreover, generated results indicate that the phases content and membrane morphologies depend on the polymer molecular weight and conditions used for the membranes preparation. The diversity of fabricated membranes could be applied by the End User Industries for different applications.

Breast cancer is the most common cause of death for women worldwide. Thus, the ability of artificial intelligence systems to predict and classify breast cancer is very important. In this paper, a hybrid ensemble method classification mechanism is proposed based on a majority voting mechanism. First, the performance of different state-of-the-art machine learning classification algorithms for the Wisconsin Breast Cancer Dataset (WBCD) were evaluated. The three best classifiers were then selected based on their F3 score. F3 score is used to emphasize the importance of false negatives (recall) in breast cancer classification. Then, these three classifiers, simple logistic Regression learning, stochastic gradient descent learning and multilayer perceptron network, are used for ensemble classification using a voting mechanism. We also evaluated the performance of hard and soft voting mechanism. For hard voting, majority-based voting mechanism was used and for soft voting we used average of probabilities, product of probabilities, maximum of probabilities and minimum of probabilities-based voting methods. The hard voting (majority-based voting) mechanism shows better performance with 99.42% as compared to the state-of-the-art algorithm for WBCD.

Cloud Computing is a promising and emerging technology that is rapidly being adopted by many IT companies due to a number of benefits that it provides, such as large storage space, low investment cost, virtualization, resource sharing, etc. Users are able to store a vast amount of data and information in the cloud and access it from anywhere, anytime on a pay-per-use basis. Since many users are able to share the data and the resources stored in the cloud, there arises a need to provide access to the data to only those users who are authorized to access it. This can be done through access control schemes which allow the authenticated and authorized users to access the data and deny access to unauthorized users. In this paper, a comprehensive review of all the existing access control schemes has been discussed along with analysis. Keywords: role-based access control, attribute-based access control, attribute-based encryption

Background: Blood flow restriction training (BFRT) uses occlusion during low-intensity resistance training (&lt;50% of repetition maximum, 1RM) to reduce arterial blood flow and venous return, imposing greater metabolic stress but similar muscular hypertrophy and strength gains as high-intensity resistance training (HIRT). However, no study, to date, has incorporated BFRT in a collegiate strength and conditioning setting to assess ecological validity. We aimed to investigate the effects of adding 6-weeks of accessory BFRT or HIRT to NCAA Division III soccer players prescribed resistance training regimen on muscle strength and hypertrophy. Methods: Male and female (n=17) athletes were randomly assigned to complete biceps curls 2x/week under BFRT or control (HIRT), following the regularly scheduled strength training. Bicep strength (1RM) and circumference (BC) were assessed at weeks 0, 3, and 6. Results: In men, no significant interaction between time and condition was observed for BC (p=0.861), though condition (BFRT vs Control, p=0.025) and time (p=0.024) were significant. For 1RM, there was no significant interaction between time and condition (BFRT vs HIRT, p=0.067) or of condition (p=0.598), but there was a significant effect of time (p=0.004). In women, there was no significant interaction between time and condition (p=0.765) or of condition (p=0.971) on BC, but time was significant (p=0.045). For 1RM, there was no significant interaction between time and condition (p=0.227) or of condition (p=0.741), but time was (p=0.018). Conclusion: BFRT induced similar increases in muscle strength and hypertrophy as HIRT in soccer players, suggesting that BFRT could be incorporated into collegiate athlete training.

Currently, algae arouse a growing interest in the pharmaceutical and cosmetic area due to the fact that they have a great diversity of bioactive compounds with the potential for pharmacological, cosmetic, and nutraceutical applications. Many of these bioactive compounds are secondary metabolites whose amounts in the algae vary with varying environmental conditions. Free radicals and other active oxygen derivatives are recognized as a natural by-product of aerobic metabolism. However, reactive oxygen species directly participate in mechanisms related to various pathological states such as cancer, diabetes, atherosclerosis, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's, among others. Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disease resulting from changes in glucose metabolism and/or deficient production/action of insulin. This review has as its main objective to reveal the potential antioxidant and antidiabetic capacity of algae extracts.

(1) Background: Loss of weight is one of the practices which have been identified as key in reducing the risk of various forms of cancer. Therefore, this study is a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies related to the topic of loss of weight and risk of cancer and addresses the question, ‘does losing weight reduce the risk of cancer?’ Its purpose is to identify current high-quality evidence on such a question and synthesize such evidence before summarizing it given specific data attributes to improve decision-making processes on cancer management. (2) Methods: Research studies were identified from four main databases: PubMed, Science Direct, Google scholar, and Medline. A systematic review and meta-analysis of such studies were then conducted to reveal the most current evidence on the research topic. (3) Results: The studies showed that losing weight reduces cancer risk. Nonetheless, such intervention is not necessarily effective, especially in cases where patients may be at risk of developing cancer due to other risk factors. (4) Conclusions: The current study concludes that there is a need to implement effective interventions such as physical exercise, dietary restrictions, or both that can be effective in reducing weight to reduce the risk of cancer.

A significant number of research studies have focused on determining whether BMI influences various types of cancer. The findings of these studies showed that people have to manage their BMIs to decrease their risk of developing various types of cancer, one of which is ovarian cancer. A PRISMA guideline for systematic review and meta-analysis was used to identify 20 research studies related to the topic to establish the truth or falsity of the findings. Later, their findings were synthesized. The synthesis of the findings of such research articles suggests that overweight and obesity increase an individual’s risk of developing ovarian cancer and experiencing severe symptoms of the disease. In such a manner, the current research study can conclude that effective management of BMI is necessary for decreasing the prevalence and mortality rates associated with ovarian cancer.

According to known laws of physics, chronic positive mass balance is the actual etiology of obesity, not positive energy balance. The relevant physical law in terms of body mass regulation is the Law of Conservation of Mass, not the Law of Conservation of Energy. A recently proposed mass balance model (MBM) describes the temporal evolution of body weight and body composition under a wide variety of feeding experiments, and it seems to provide a highly accurate description of the very best experimental human feeding data. By shifting to a mass balance paradigm of obesity, a deeper understanding of this disease may follow in the near future. The purpose of this living review is to present the core issues of the upcoming paradigm shift as well as some practical applications related to the topic.

Introduction: Leptin is a polypeptide hormone and in pregnancy it is secreted by the placenta and maternal and fetal adipose tissues. The expression of leptin and its specific receptors is observed in the uterine endometrium which indicates leptin involvement in the implantation process and embryonic/fetal development. Normal leptin production is a factor responsible for uncomplicated gestation, embryo development and fetal growth. Objective: To compare at delivery maternal serum and cord blood leptin concentrations in normal pregnancies and in pregnancies complicated by intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). Material and methods: The study was performed in 25 pregnant women with isolated IUGR diagnosed by ultrasonography (study subjects) and in 194 pregnant women without any comorbid health conditions (controls). Leptin concentrations in maternal serum and in cord blood samples collected at delivery were measured by ELISA and subsequently analyzed by maternal Body Mass Index (BMI), mode of delivery, and infant gender and birth weight. For comparative analyses of normally distributed variables, parametric tests were used, i.e. the Student-t to test the assumption of homogeneity or non-homogeneity of variance and a One-Way ANOVA when more than two groups were compared. The non-parametric Mann-Whitney test was used when the distribution was not normal. The Pearson correlation coefficient was calculated to assess the correlation between normally distributed variables (p<0.05). Results: In pregnancies complicated by IUGR, the mean maternal serum leptin concentration at delivery was significantly higher (52.73 ± 30.49 ng/mL) than in normal pregnancies (37.17 ± 28.07 ng/mL) (p=0.01). The mean cord blood leptin concentration in pregnancies complicated by IUGR was 7.97 ± 4.46 ng/mL and significantly lower than in normal pregnancies (14.78 ± 15.97 ng/mL) (p=0.04). In normal pregnancies, but not in pregnancies complicated by IUGR, a statistically significant correlation was established between maternal serum leptin concentrations and maternal BMI at delivery (r=0,22; p=0.00). No statistically significant correlation was found between cord blood leptin concentrations and maternal BMI in either study subjects or controls. In normal pregnancies, but not in pregnancies complicated by IUGR, a strong correlation was observed between cord blood leptin concentrations and birth weight (r=0,23; p=0.00). In both study subjects and controls, there were no correlations between leptin concentrations in maternal serum and cord blood and infant gender and mode of delivery. Conclusions: Elevated maternal blood leptin concentrations in pregnancies complicated by IUGR may indicate a significant adverse effect of elevated leptin on fetal growth. Enhanced leptin production by the placenta suggests leptin as a candidate marker of placental insufficiency. The differences in leptin concentrations, measured in maternal serum and in cord blood, between the study subjects and controls suggest that deregulated leptin levels may increase the risk of obstetric complications associated with placental insufficiency.

The inhibition impacts of 1,10-Phenanthroline-5,6-diamine (PTDA) on mild steel in 1 M HCl solution were investigated through weight loss method. The inhibition efficiencies of PTDA increase with increase in PTDA concentration at the temperature 303. Weight loss method indicate that PTDA is an excellent inhibitor the inhibition efficiency of 81.5% at the maximum PTDA concentration of 0.5 g/L at the temperature 303K.

With the unceasing advancement in wide-bandgap (WBG) semiconductor technology, the minimal reverse-recovery charge Qrr and other more powerful natures of WBG transistors enable totem-pole bridgeless PFC to become a dominant solution for energy storage systems (ESS). This paper focuses on design and implementation of a control structure for a totem-pole boost PFC with newfangled enhancement-mode Gallium Nitride (eGaN) FETs, not only to simplify the control implementation, but also to achieve high power quality and efficiency. The converter is designed to convert a 90-264-VAC input to a 385-VDC output for a 2.6-kW output power. Lastly, to validate the methodology, an experimental prototype is characterized and fabricated. The uttermost efficiency at 230 VAC attains 99.14%. The lowest total harmonic distortion in the current (ITHD) at high line condition (230 V) reaches 1.52% while the power factor gains 0.9985.

The pre-pregnancy BMI and the gestational weight gain are two important determinants of pregnancy outcomes. The aim of this study was to determine obstetric outcomes associated with insufficient gestational weight gain in women with a pre-pregnancy BMI &lt; 18.5 kg/m2. This study was based on observational routinely-collected data from a University Hospital Maternity. The participants were allocated to the group sufficient or insufficient gestational weight gain: ≥ 12.5 kg and &lt; 12.5 kg respectively. Primary outcomes were the adjusted birth weight in percentiles (%) and the proportion of SGA newborns. Secondary outcomes were obstetric and perinatal outcomes. A total of 135 participants with a median age of 28±8 years were included. The adjusted birth weight in percentiles was significantly lower in the insufficient gestational weight gain group (27.2±45.4 vs 42.6±48.8 %; P&lt;0.001). Moreover, the insufficient gestational weight gain is associated with a higher risk of SGA (28.1% vs 11.3%; P=0.017). Our study also showed increased risks of premature rupture of membranes, anaemia and intrauterine growth restriction in women with an insufficient weight gain. Future studies should explore the risk factors associated with insufficient weight gain, in order to develop specific care for underweight pregnant women.

Objective To Identify risk factors of perinatal complications amongst macrosomic babies in a reference hospital structure. Method We conducted a case-control institutional based study. Cases and controls of singleton livebirths were extracted from the maternity registry from January 2017 to December 2019 The case population consisted of mother and child macrosomic couples with perinatal complications. The control group consisted of couples without perinatal complications. Matching was done on age and sex. The main primary end point was the risk factors for complications. Data were analyzed using R, software version3.0 in adjusted and unadjusted analysis with p<0.05 threshold considered statistically significant. Results Out of 362 couples, we had 186 cases and 176 controls. Maternal age ≥30 years (p=0.024); non-screening for gestational diabetes (p=0.027); history of caesarean section (p=0.041); weight gain ≥16 kg (p<0.001); maternal HIV (p=0.047); birth weight ≥4500g (p=0.015) and birth height ≥ 52.7 ±1.7cm (p=0.026) were risk factors. Conclusion The delivery of a macrosomic baby remains problematic in this setting. The improvement of the maternal-fetal prognosis requires quality prenatal surveillance and management by a multidisciplinary perinatal team involving obstetricians, endocrinologist, and neonatal pediatricians.

To Identify risk factors of perinatal complications amongst macrosomic babies in a reference hospital structure.We conducted a case-control institutional based study. Cases and controls of singleton livebirths were extracted from the maternity registry from January 2017 to December 2019 The case population consisted of mother and child macrosomic couples with perinatal complications. The control group consisted of couples without perinatal complications. Matching was done on age and sex. The main primary end point was the risk factors for complications. Data were analyzed using R, software version3.0 in adjusted and unadjusted analysis with p<0.05 threshold considered statistically significant.Out of 362 couples, we had 186 cases and 176 controls. Maternal age ≥30 years (p=0.024); non-screening for gestational diabetes (p=0.027); history of caesarean section (p=0.041); weight gain ≥16 kg (p<0.001); maternal HIV (p=0.047); birth weight ≥4500g (p=0.015) and birth height ≥ 52.7 ±1.7cm (p=0.026) were risk factors. The delivery of a macrosomic baby remains problematic in this setting. The improvement of the maternal-fetal prognosis requires quality prenatal surveillance and management by a multidisciplinary perinatal team involving obstetricians, endocrinologists and neonatal pediatricians.

Abstract: A lower bed single row for pineapple cultivation could protect pineapple from soil erosion in rainy season and during drought, however, disease problem could arise due to water logging. Two experiments using a lower bed single row was done to understand the ability of gypsum providing soil calcium (Ca) available to pineapple plant, resistance to heart rot disease, and give better effect on crop growth and fruit quality of the pineapple in Ultisol soil. In the first trial, four level dosis of gypsum (0, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 Mg ha-1) and dolomite 2 Mg ha-1 were applied by spreading and incorporated into the soil which have saturated with inoculums of Phytophthora nicotianae. In the second trial, gypsum treatments (0, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5 Mg ha-1) were applied in the row between the single row beds as a basic fertilizer. The result showed that P. nicotianae attacked the pineapple plants in all treatments at 6 weeks after planting (WAP), and at 10 WAP, the mortality of dolomite treatment reached 63.8%, significantly different than that for gypsum treatments (3.3-14.3%). In the second experiment, gypsum increased plant weight significantly at 3 until 9 months after planting especially when it was applied 1.5-2.5 Mg ha-1. Fruit texture, total soluble solid (TSS), titratable acidity (TA) were not significant different among the treatment but all meet the standards for grades of canned pineapple. Result showed that soil applied gypsum before planting provides soil calcium and met the plant Ca requirement during a period of early and fast growth step and safe for heart rot disease.

TThe passion of bodybuilding athletes for a symmetric, lean, heavily muscled body leads them to carry out exhausting exercise programs and restrictive eating regimens, sometimes resulting in disordered eating behaviors. This study investigates potential exacerbators on the development of disordered eating in bodybuilding and strength athletes. The study involved 103 Cypriot bodybuilding athletes of both sexes, performing at three levels: professional, recreational and strength athletes. The Eating Attitude Test 26 (EAT-26) and The Three Factor Eating Question-naire (TFEQ-R21) were used to evaluate disordered eating and eating behaviors respectively. The current study was performed under the auspices of the Hellenic Center of Education & Treatment of Eating Disorders (KEADD). The degree of deviation between the perceived ideal body weight and the actual body weight was associated with increased risk of eating disorder. Athletes who desired a lower body weight recorded higher scores on EAT-26 overall, (p=0.001), and the subscales of dieting (p=0.01) and bulimia. (p=0.001). Cognitive restraint and emotional eating scales of TFEQ-R21 were more pronounced in the non-professional athletes. (p=0.01). The emotional eating score was higher in women. There is a need for appropriate sport-specific, gender-specific preventive intervention to deescalate the risk of eating disorder, in both profes-sional and non-professional bodybuilding athletes.

Introduction: In general, everyone believes that the smallest preterm infants should achieve normal intrauterine growth rates, but many thinks that this is not possible with current nutrition guidelines. There is resistance to giving enough nutrition for fear of "toxicity". The difference in weight Z-score between birth and a corrected gestational age (CGA) at discharge is assess in postnatal growth in our unit. Material and methods: An observational study was done between January 2018 and December 2020 where all cases that had ≤ 29 weeks of GA at birth and survived to 36 weeks corrected GA or that were discharged home. An aggressive nutrition protocol including parenteral as well as enteral nutrition was followed. Patients and their weight trajectory was plotted on the Fenton 2013 growth curve. The patients who had had a smaller WZP difference were also plotted. Results: A total of 32 cases were found. The median change in Z-score between birth and discharge of the whole group was -0.52 (IQR 0.53). Six of 32 (19%) had a more than one WZP, all of whom had severe pathologies. The median decline in Z score for this group with poor growth was 1.24 (IQR 0.22). There were 26 cases with a < 1 WZP (81%) and a median Z score fall of 0.39 (IQR 0.55). No important complications secondary to the ingested volumes or parenteral nutrition were reported. Conclusion: The group of cases with a > 1 WZP drop had severe pathologies. All the other cases had adequate growth parallel to normal weight growth charts and a few cases had some catch-up growth. The study showed that it is possible for many preterm infants to achieve normal intrauterine growth rates if they are given enough nutrition, but bigger multicenter studies are needed to confirm these findings.

The passion of bodybuilding athletes for a symmetric, lean, heavily muscled body leads them to carry out exhausting exercise programs and restrictive eating regimens, sometimes resulting in disordered eating behaviors. This study investigates potential exacerbators on the development of disordered eating in bodybuilding and strength athletes. The study involved 103 Cypriot bodybuilding athletes of both sexes, performing at three levels: professional, recreational and strength athletes. The Eating Attitude Test 26 (EAT-26) and The Three Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ-R21) were used to evaluate disordered eating and eating behaviors respectively. The current study was performed under the auspices of the Hellenic Center of Education & Treatment of Eating Disorders (KEADD). The degree of deviation between the perceived ideal body weight and the actual body weight was associated with increased risk of eating disorder. Athletes who desired a lower body weight recorded higher scores on EAT-26 overall, and the subscales of dieting and bulimia. Cognitive restraint and emotional eating scales of TFEQ-R21 were more pronounced in the non-professional athletes. The emotional eating score was higher in women. There is a need for appropriate sport-specific, gender-specific preventive intervention to deescalate the risk of eating disorder, in both professional and non-professional bodybuilding athletes.

Recent evidence suggests that among behavioral-lifestyle factors, adherence to a healthy dietary pattern such as the Mediterranean Diet (MedDiet) is linked not only to better psychological health and mental positive status but also to increased subjective well-being (SWB). Nevertheless, this association has been unexplored among individuals with excessive weight. This study explored whether adherence to the MedDiet and the intake of healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables (FV) are associated with increased happiness and life satisfaction among Spanish adults with overweight or obesity when weight, body image, and body satisfaction are also considered. A convenience sample of adult individuals with excessive weight completed self-reports on the study variables, and weight and BMI were measured by bioimpedance. No evidence of a relationship with SWB indicators was obtained for MedDiet global indicators, probably due to the low adherence to a healthy diet by these individuals. In contrast, FV intake, as a powerful indicator of healthy eating, was associated with life satisfaction when BMI and body image dimensions were considered, among which body satisfaction also had a key role. Moreover, life satisfaction fully mediated the relationship between FV consumption and happiness. Our findings are expected to make a relevant contribution to knowledge on the positive correlates or protective factors for overall well-being in obesity, including dietary habits and body appreciation. Our results may inform obesity management actions focused on inclusive, positive aesthetic models and promoting a healthy lifestyle for happiness in obesity.

: This paper presents a couple of meal monitoring systems for senile dementia patients by using electronic weight and temperature sensors. These monitoring systems enable to convey the information of the amount of meal taken by the patients in real-time via wireless communication networks onto the mobile phones of their families or nurses in charge. Thereby, the nurses can easily spot the most desperate patient to take care of while the families can have relief to see the crucial information for survival of their parents at least three times a day. Meanwhile, the senile dementia patients tend to suffer the burn of their tongues because they can hardly recognize the temperature of hot meals served and therefore avoid the burn of tongues. This phenomenon can be discarded by utilizing the meal temperature monitoring system which displays alarm to the patients when the meal temperature is above the reference. These meal monitoring systems can be easily implemented by utilizing low-cost sensor chips and Arduino UNO boards so that elder-care hospitals and nursing homes can afford to exploit them with no additional cost. Hence, we believe that the proposed monitoring systems would be a potential solution to provide a great help and relief not only for the professional nursing nurses working in elder-care hospitals and nursing homes, but also for the families of the dementia patients.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of condensed tannin (CTs) with differing molecular weight on their capacity to modify the fatty acid profile in milk. Twenty multiparous crossbred lactating dairy goats were assigned in a randomized complete block design (RCBD), and were subjected to receive the dietary treatments as followings; T1: control (with no CTs supplementation), T2: supplemented with mangosteen peel in a concentrate as a source of low molecular weight CTs at level of 3.0 %DM of CTs equivalent, T3: supplemented with the same diet with T2 but added with polyethylene glycol (PEG, as tannin inactivator) as the control of T2, and T4: supplemented with quebracho CT extract (UNITAN ATO, Buenos Aires, Argentina; 75-77 % tannins) in a concentrate as a source of high molecular weight CTs at level of 3.0 %DM of CTs equivalent, and T5) supplemented with the same diet with T4 but added with PEG as the control of T4. No significant change was detected for feed intake and nutrient digestibility indicate that CTs at level of 3.0 %DM of diet did not showed the detrimental effect to feed intake and nutrient digestibility, however, ruminal fermentation parameters and milk yield and milk compositions did not affected by different source of CT inclusion.

With the rapid spread of carbon trading in the global economy, the interactions of prices between carbon (or clean/renewable energy) and traditional fossil energies such as coal and oil have raised growing attention, but little research have discussed their dynamic volatility spillover and time-varying correlation. The purpose of this study is to investigate these issues, for the weekly data of EUA futures, Biofuel and Brent oil prices from 25 October 2009 to 5 July 2020. We employ the VAR-GARCH model with the BEKK specification. Our results are summarized as follows. At first, we identified the sudden changes and the volatility persistence in the three markets, and also confirmed that the volatility of the markets has changed significantly over time. Secondly, we find that there are a weak volatility spillover effect among the three markets, while a strong spillover effect between the EUA and Brent oil markets. Lastly, in financial markets, the EUA can be used as a hedging portfolio for the Biofuel and Brent oil markets. These results can help investors to well compose their portfolios and manage their investment risks, and help potential pollutant emission sources to join in carbon market in a cost-effective way.

Dietary approach is essential to obesity control, but the effectiveness of changes in meal frequency (MF) as strategies for loss and maintenance of body mass remain unclear. This study aimed to evaluate the influence of MF on a hypocaloric diet on weight loss, active ghrelin levels and metabolic indicators of women with obesity. This is a randomized, parallel clinical trial, including forty women, randomized in two groups, both following a hypocaloric diet, according to MF (G1 – six meals/day; G2 – three meals/day). Dietary, laboratory, anthropometric and body composition indicators were assessed, as well as energy expenditure (EE), before and after the 90 days of intervention. After intervention, both groups decreased body weight, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, fat mass (FM), insulin and HOMA-IR. G1 increased insulin sensitivity and G2 reduced triglyceride and FM and increased fat-free mass (FFM). MF increased ghrelin levels. There were no differences in EE variables. Hypocaloric diet with different MF promoted a reduction in total weight, BMI, WC and FM and an improvement in glycidic metabolism. However, the accomplishment of the three meals/day increased the FFM and active ghrelin and reduced triglyceride, while six meals/day was more beneficial in increasing insulin sensitivity.

We do fuzzification the concept of domination in crisp graph by using membership values of nodes, $\alpha$-strong arcs and arcs. In this paper, we introduce a new variation on the domination theme which we call vertex domination. We determine the vertex domination number $\gamma_v$ for several classes of fuzzy graphs, specially complete fuzzy graph and complete bipartite fuzzy graphs. The bounds is obtained for the vertex domination number of fuzzy graphs. Also the relationship between $M$-strong arcs and $\alpha$-strong is obtained. In fuzzy graphs, monotone decreasing property and monotone increasing property is introduced. We prove the vizing's conjecture is monotone decreasing fuzzy graph property for vertex domination. we prove also the Grarier-Khelladi's conjecture is monotone decreasing fuzzy graph property for it. We obtain Nordhaus-Gaddum (NG) type results for these parameters. The relationship between several classes of operations on fuzzy graphs with the vertex domination number of them is studied.

Fetal weight estimation before delivery is important in obstetrics, which assists doctors diagnose abnormal or diseased cases. Linear regression based on ultrasound measures such as bi-parietal diameter (bpd), head circumference (hc), abdominal circumference (ac), and fetal length (fl) is common statistical method for weight estimation but the regression model requires that time points of collecting such measures must not be too far from last ultrasound scans. Therefore this research proposes a method of early weight estimation based on expectation maximization (EM) algorithm so that ultrasound measures can be taken at any time points in gestational period. In other words, gestational sample can lack some or many fetus weights, which gives facilities to practitioners because practitioners need not concern fetus weights when taking ultrasound examinations. The proposed method is called dual regression expectation maximization (DREM) algorithm. Experimental results indicate that accuracy of DREM decreases insignificantly when completion of ultrasound sample decreases significantly. So it is proved that DREM withstands missing values in incomplete sample or sparse sample.

The present study was conducted the status of sea bass from Kokko and Kyuntone of The Gulf of Motttama Wetland (GoMW) area in Thanatpin Township in Bago Region Myanmar from September 2019 to August 2020. Fifty specimens were monthly collected, measured and weighed. Invoices of sea bass were collected for the depot and fish sellers by monthly. In Kokko, mean value of standard length and body weight were highest in March (32.70±1.58, 660.7±112.23). The mean value of standard length was peak in January (31.39±7.16) but peak of body weight was in March (963.24±280.86) in Kyuntone villages. The lowest mean value of standard length and body weight were found in June at both study areas. According to the invoice data revealed that monthly catch weight of sea bass is most abundance in October (829.92) kg in Kokko, (339.12) kg in Kyuntone. Based on price of relations to size group, small size C &lt; 300g (41%) was mostly abundance in Kokko and in Kyuntone small size C &lt; 300g (35%) was second abundance. Specimens were not landed in April and May. In June, young specimens were very rarely seen in both study sites. The important roles of wetland fishes, the economic valuation of GOMW in Myanmar and samples of fishing gear and value chain of sea bass in Myanmar was expressed in this study.

High temperature (HT) significantly affects the crop physiological traits and reduces the 12 productivity in plants. To increase yields as well as survival of crops under HT, developing heat13 tolerant plants is one of the main targets in crop breeding programs. The present study attempted 14 to investigate the linkage of the heat tolerance between the seedling and the reproductive growth 15 stages of tomato cultivars ’Dafnis‘ and ’Minichal’. This research was undertaken to evaluate heat 16 tolerance under two experimental designs such as screening at seedling stage and screening from 17 reproductive traits in greenhouses. Survival rate and physiological responses in seedlings of 18 tomatoes with 4-5 true leaf were estimated under HT (40 °C, RH 70%, day/night, respectively) and 19 under two control and HT greenhouse conditions (day time 28 °C and 40 °C, respectively). Heat 20 stress significantly affected physiological-chemical (photosynthesis, electrolyte conductivity, 21 proline) and vegetative parameters (plant height, shoot fresh weight, root fresh weight) in all 22 tomatoes seedlings. The finding revealed that regardless of tomato cultivars the photosynthesis, 23 chlorophyll, total proline and electrical conductivity parameters were varied in seedlings during the 24 heat stress period. The heat tolerance rate of tomatoes in the seedling stage might not be associated 25 always with reproductive parameters. HT reduced the fruit parameters likeas fruit weight (31.9%), 26 fruit length (14.1%), fruit diameter (19.1%) and fruit hardness (9.1%) in compared to NT under HT 27 in heat susceptible tomato cultivar ‘Dafnis’, while in heat tolerant cultivar ‘Minichal’ fruit length 28 (7.1%) and fruit diameter (12.1%) was decreased by the affect of HT but on the contrary fruit weight 29 (3.6%) and fruit hardness (8.3%) were increased. In conclusion, screening and selection for tomatoes 30 should be evaluated at the vegetative and reproductive stages with consideration of reproductive 31 parameters.

The synthesis of additives for thinning mineral suspensions based on sodium polyacrylate was carried out. The effect of molecular weight regulators on the molecular weight characteristics of the polymer and the effect of such polymers on the rheological properties of suspensions was studied. Sodium acrylate polymers are synthesized by free radical polymerization in aqueous solution using molecular weight regulators. The molecular weight characteristics of the polymeric samples were estimated by viscometry using Mark-Houwink-Kuhn-Sakurada (MHKS) equation. Synthesized polymers were used as thinners ceramic slurries, prepared according to the recipe of the enterprises producing ceramic products. The thinning ability of polymer samples with different molecular weights was estimated using an Engler viscometer from the time of the ceramic slurry flow. The influence of the type and amount molecular weight regulator on polyacryates was revealed. It was found that molecular weight synthesized samples was in the range of 21000 - 91000. It was determined that samples with a molecular weight of 28000 - 35000 synthesized using mercaptoethanol (at a dosage of 0.5-1.5% by weight of the monomer) provide optimal fluidity to the ceramic slurry.

.With the increasing use of carbon fiber reinforced plastics in various area, carbon fiber composites based on prepregs have attracted attention in industries and academia research. However, prepreg manufacturing processes are costly, and the strength of structures varies depending on the orientation and defects (pores and delamination). For non-contact evaluation of internal defects, we proposed lock-in infrared thermography to investigate orientation angles after a compression test. We also conducted a drop-weight impact test to study the behaviour of the composites after impact according the fibers orientation for composite fabricated using unidirectional carbon fiber prepregs. Using CAI tests, we determined the residual compressive strength and confirmed the damage modes using a thermal camera. The results of the drop weight impact tests show that the specimen laminated at 0° suffered the largest damage because of susceptibility of the resin to impact. In contrast, the specimens oriented in of 0°/90° and +45°/–45° directions transferred more than 90% of the impact energy back to the impactor because of the lamination of fibers in the orthogonal directions. Furthermore, the specimens that underwent complete damage in the impact tests were subjected to the lock-in method and showed internal delamination and cut fibers. With the finite elements analysis, the damage of each ply could be observed. Moreover, the temperature differences in the residual compression tests were not significant.

There is accumulating evidence that prenatal exposure to air pollution disturbs fetal growth and development, but little is known about these effects in cold climates or their season-specific or joint effects. Our objective was to assess independent and joint effects of prenatal exposure to specific air pollutants on the risk of low birth weight (LBW). We utilized the 2568 children of the Espoo Cohort Study, born between 1984 and 1990, and living in the City of Espoo. We conducted stratified analyses for births during warm and cold seasons separately. We analyzed the effect estimates using multi-pollutant Poisson regression models with risk ratio (RR) as the measure of effect. The risk of LBW was related to exposure to CO and (adjusted RR 1.44, 95% CI: 1.04-2.00) and exposure to O3 in the spring-summer season (1.82, 1.11-2.96). There was also evidence of synergistic effects between CO and O3 (relative risk due to interaction, RERI, all year 1.08, 95% CI: 0.27-4.94, spring-summer 3.97, 2.17-25.85) and PM2.5 and O3 (all year 0.72, -0.07-3.60, spring-summer 2.80, 1.36-19.88). We present new evidence of both independent and joint effects of prenatal exposure in a cold climate on the risk of LBW at low levels of air pollution.

By combing continuum topology optimization (TO) method and lattice structure technique, a sandwich aircraft spoiler with a high stiffness-to-weight is designed. TO method is served to produce the shell of the aircraft spoiler and the lattice structure, used as cores, is employed to support the shell. TO problem is established as maximizing the stiffness of the structure with limited material volume. Density-based method is utilized to achieve a 0/1 solution. We then empirically replace the core of the aircraft spoiler by using 3D kagome lattice structure. Two different materials, i.e., aluminum alloy and titanium alloy, are synthetically applied to further reduce the weight and simultaneously improve the strength of the aircraft spoiler. Numerical simulations are conducted to show that the designed aircraft spoiler can meet the service environment with a reduction of its weight by approximately 80% when compared with that of the initial design model. Finally, we have fabricated the designed model with photosensitive resin by using 3D printing technique.

The domestication and subsequent genetic improvement of wheat led to the development of large-seeded cultivated wheat species relative to their smaller-seeded wild progenitors. While increased grain weight (GW) continues to be an important goal of many wheat breeding programs, few genes underlying this trait have been identified despite an abundance of studies reporting quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for GW. Here we perform a QTL analysis for GW using a population of recombinant inbred lines (RILs) derived from the cross between wild emmer wheat accession ‘Zavitan’ and durum wheat variety ‘Svevo’. Identified QTLs in this population were anchored to the recent Zavitan reference genome, along with previously published QTLs for GW in tetraploid wheat. This genome-based, meta-QTL analysis enabled the identification of a locus on chromosome 6A whose introgression from wild wheat positively affects GW. The locus was validated using an introgression line carrying the 6A GW QTL region from Zavitan in a Svevo background, resulting in >8% increase in GW compared to Svevo. Using the reference sequence for the 6A QTL region, we identified a wheat ortholog to OsGRF4, a rice gene previously associated with GW. The coding sequence of this gene (TtGRF4-A) contains four SNPs between Zavitan and Svevo, one of which reveals the Zavitan allele to be rare in a core collection of wild emmer and completely absent from the domesticated emmer genepool. Similarly, another wild emmer accession (G18-16) was found to carry a rare allele of TtGRF4-A that also positively affects GW and is characterized by a unique SNP absent from the entire core collection. These results exemplify the rich genetic diversity of wild wheat, posit TtGRF4-A as a candidate gene underlying the 6A GW QTL, and suggest that the natural Zavitan and G18-16 alleles of TtGRF4-A have potential to increase wheat yields in breeding programs.

In this paper we show that the Schwarzschild radius can be extracted easily from any gravitationally-linked phenomena without having knowledge of the Newton gravitational constant or the mass size of the gravitational object. Further, the Schwarzschild radius can be used to predict any gravity phenomena accurately, again without knowledge of the Newton gravitational constant and also without knowledge of the size of the mass, although this may seem surprising at first. Hidden within the Schwarzschild radius are the mass of the gravitational object, the Planck mass (their relative mass), and the Planck length. We do not claim to have all the answers, but this seems to indicate that gravity is quantized, even at a cosmological scale, and this quantization is directly linked to the Planck units. This also supports our view that the Newton gravitational constant is a universal composite constant of the form $G=\frac{l_p^2{c}^3}{\hslash }$ , rather than relying on the Planck units as a function of G. This does not mean that Newton’s gravitational constant is not a universal constant, but that it is instead a composite universal constant that depends on the Planck length, the speed of light, and the Planck constant. Further, $\frac{G\times 1\hspace{0.17em}\mathrm{weight}\hspace{0.17em}\mathrm{unit}}{c^2}=\frac{G}{c^2}$ is the Schwarzschild radius off one weight unit. So G is only needed when we want to use gravity to find the weight of an object, such as weighing the Earth. This is, to our knowledge, the first paper that shows how a long series of major gravity predictions and measurements can be completed without any knowledge of the mass size of the object, or Newton’s gravitational constant. As a minimum we think it provides an interesting new angle for evaluating existing gravity theories, and it may even give us a small hint on how to combine quantum gravity with Newton and Einstein gravity.

The present study examined and compared the effects of high- and low-molecular weight (MW) chitosan, a nutraceutical, on intestinal and liver lipid metabolism in rats fed with high-fat diet. Both high- and low-MW chitosan decreased liver weight, elongated small intestine, improved the dysregulation of blood lipids and liver fat accumulation, and increased fecal lipid excretion in high-fat diet-fed rats. Supplementation of both high- and low-MW chitosan significantly inhibited the decreased phosphorylated AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK)α and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)α protein expressions and the increased lipogenesis/cholesterogenesis-associated protein expressions (sterol regulatory element binding protein (SREBP)1c, SREBP2, and PPARγ) and the decreased apolipoprotein (Apo)E and microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTTP) protein expressions in the livers of high-fat diet-fed rats. Both high and low-MW chitosan supplementation could also suppress the increased MTTP protein expression and the decreased angiopoietin-like protein (Angptl)4 protein expression in the intestines of high-fat diet-fed rats. Comparison between high and low-MW chitosan, high-MW chitosan has a higher efficiency than low-MW chitosan on the inhibition of intestinal lipid absorption and the increase of hepatic fatty acid oxidation, which can improve liver lipid biosynthesis and accumulation.

The use of pain relief during castration and dehorning of calves on commercial beef operations can be limited by constraints associated with the delivery of analgesic agents. As topical anaesthetic (TA) and buccal meloxicam (MEL) are now available in Australia, offering practical analgesic treatments for concurrent castration and dehorning of beef calves, a study was conducted to determine their efficacy in providing pain relief when applied alone or in combination. Weaner calves were randomly allocated to; (1) no castration and dehorning / positive control (CONP); (2) castration and dehorning / negative control (CONN); (3) castration and dehorning with buccal meloxicam (BM); (4) castration and dehorning with topical anaesthetic (TA); and (5) castration and dehorning with buccal meloxicam and topical anaesthetic (BMTA). Weight gain, paddock utilisation, lying activity and behaviour following treatment were measured. CONP and BMTA calves had significantly greater weight gain than CONN calves (P < 0.001). CONN calves spent less time lying compared to BMTA calves on all days (P < 0.001). All dehorned and castrated calves spent more time walking (P = 0.024) and less time eating (P < 0.001) compared to CONP calves. There was a trend for CONP calves to spend the most time standing and CONN calves to spend the least time standing (P = 0.059). There were also trends for the frequency of head turns to be lowest in CONP and BMTA calves (P = 0.098) and tail flicks to be highest in CONN and BM calves (P = 0.061). The findings of this study suggest that TA and MEL can improve welfare and production of calves following surgical castration and amputation dehorning.

Agavins consumption has lead to accelerate body weight loss in mice. We investigated the changes on cecal microbiota and short chain fatty acids (SCFA) associated to body weight loss in overweight mice. Firstly, mice were fed with standard (ST5) or high fat (HF5) diet for 5 weeks. Secondly, overweight mice were shifted to standard diet alone (HF-ST10) or supplemented with agavins (HF-ST+A10) or oligofructose (HF-ST+O10), five more weeks. Cecal contents were collected before and after supplementation to determine microbiota and SCFA concentrations. At the end of first phase, HF5 mice showed a significant increase of body weight, which was associated with reduction of cecal microbiota diversity (PD whole tree; non-parametric t-test, P < 0.05), increased Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio and reduced SCFA concentrations (t-test, P < 0.05). After diet shifted, HF-ST10 normalized its microbiota, increase its diversity and SCFA levels, whereas agavins (HF-ST+A10) or oligofructose (HF-ST+O10) led to partial microbiota restoration, with normalization of the Firmicutes/Bacteroides ratio as well as higher SCFA levels (P < 0.1). Moreover, agavins noticeably enriched Klebsiella and Citrobacter (LDA > 3.0); this enrichment has not been reported previously under a prebiotic treatment. In conclusion, agavins or oligofructose modulated cecal microbiota composition, reduced extent of diversity and increased SCFA. Furthermore, identification of bacteria enriched by agavins, opens opportunities to explore new probiotics.

Many theoretical models of iron-based superconductors have been proposed but Tc calculations based on the models are usually missing. We have chosen two models of iron-based superconductors in the literature and then compute the Tc values accordingly: Recently two models have been announced which suggest that superconducting electron concentration involved in the pairing mechanism of iron-based superconductors may have been underestimated, and that the antiferromagnetism and the induced xy potential may even have a dramatic amplification effect on electron-phonon coupling. We use bulk FeSe, LiFeAs and NaFeAs data to calculate the Tc based on these models and test if the combined model can predict the superconducting transition temperature (Tc) of the nanostructured FeSe monolayer well. To substantiate the recently announced xy potential in the literature, we create a two-channel model to separately superimpose the dynamics of the electron in the upper and lower tetrahedral plane. The results of our two-channel model support the literature data. While scientists are still searching for a universal DFT functional that can describe the pairing mechanism of all iron-based superconductors, we base on the ARPES data to propose an empirical combination of DFT functional for revising the electron-phonon scattering matrix in the superconducting state, which ensures that all electrons involved in iron-based superconductivity are included in the computation. Our computational model takes into account this amplifying effect of antiferromagnetism and the correction of the electron-phonon scattering matrix together with the abnormal soft out-of-plane lattice vibration of the layered structure, which allows us to calculate theoretical Tc values of LiFeAs, NaFeAs and FeSe as a function of pressure that correspond reasonably well to the experimental values. More importantly, by taking into account the interfacial effect between an FeSe monolayer and its SrTiO3 substrate as an additional gain factor, our calculated Tc value is up to 91 K high, and provides evidence that the strong Tc enhancement recently observed in such monolayers with Tc reaching 100 K may be contributed from the electrons within the ARPES range.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is the etiological agent of tuberculosis (TB), a disease that alt-hough preventable and curable, remains a global epidemic due to the emergence of resistance and a latent form responsible for a long period of treatment. Drug discovery in TB is a challenging task due to the heterogeneity of the disease, the emergence of resistance and an uncomplete knowledge of the pathophysiology of the disease. The limited permeability of the cell wall and the presence of multiple efflux pumps remain a major barrier to achieve effective intracellular drug accumulation. While the complete genome sequence of Mtb has been determined and several potential protein targets have been validated, the lack of adequate models for in vitro and in vivo studies is a limit-ing factor in TB drug discovery programs. In current therapeutic regimens, less than 0.5% of bac-terial proteins are targeted being the biosynthesis of the cell wall and the energetic metabolism two of the most important processes exploited for TB chemotherapeutics. This review provides an overview on the current challenges in TB drug discovery and emerging Mtb druggable proteins, and how chemical probes for protein profiling enabled the identification of new targets and bi-omarkers, paving the way to disruptive therapeutic regimens and diagnostic tools.

Lake Rawapening, Semarang Regency, Indonesia, has incorporated a holistic plan in its management practices. However, despite successful target achievements, some limitations remain that a review of its management plan is needed. This paper identifies and analyzes existing lake management strategies as a standard specifically in Lake Rawapening by exploring various literature, both legal frameworks and scholarly articles indexed in Google Scholar and published in Water by MDPI about lake management in many countries. There are two major types of lake management, namely pillar-based and object-based. While the former is the foundation of a conceptual paradigm that does not comprehensively consider the roles of finance and technology in the lake management, the latter indicates the objects to manage so as to create standards or benchmarks for the implementation of various programs. Overall, Lake Rawapening management should include more programs on erosion-sedimentation control and monitoring of operational performance using information systems.

Nature-based solutions (NbS) are increasingly recognised for their potential to address both the climate and biodiversity crises. These outcomes are interdependent, and both rely on the capacity of NbS to support and enhance the health of an ecosystem: its biodiversity, the condition of its abiotic and biotic elements, and its capacity to function normally despite environmental change. However, while understanding of ecosystem health outcomes of nature-based interventions for climate change mitigation is growing, the outcomes of those implemented for adaptation remain poorly understood with evidence scattered across multiple disciplines. To address this, we conducted a systematic review of the outcomes of 109 nature-based interventions for climate change adaptation using 33 indicators of ecosystem health across eight broad categories (e.g. diversity, biomass, ecosystem functioning and population dynamics). We showed that 88% of interventions with positive outcomes for climate change adaptation also reported measurable benefits for ecosystem health. We also showed that interventions were associated with a 67% average increase in local species richness. All eight studies that reported benefits in terms of both climate change mitigation and adaptation also supported ecosystem health, leading to a triple win. However, there were also trade-offs, mainly for forest management and creation of novel ecosystems such as monoculture plantations of non-native species. Our review highlights two major limitations of research to date. First, only a limited selection of metrics are used to assess ecosystem health and these rarely include key aspects such as functional diversity and habitat connectivity. Second, taxonomic coverage is poor: 67% of outcomes assessed only plants and 57% did not distinguish between native and non-native species. Future research addressing these issues will allow the design and adaptive management of NbS to support healthy and resilient ecosystems, and thereby enhance their effectiveness for meeting both climate and biodiversity targets.

Deep neural network (DNN) watermarking is a potential approach for protecting the intellectual property rights of DNN models. Similar to classical watermarking techniques for multimedia content, the requirements for DNN watermarking include capacity, robustness, and transparency, and other factors. Studies have focused on robustness against retraining and fine-tuning. However, less important neurons in the DNN model may be pruned. Moreover, although the encoding approach in renders DNN watermarking robust against pruning attacks, the watermark is assumed to be embedded only into the fully connected layer in the fine-tuning model. In this study, we extended the method such that the model can be applied to any convolution layer of the DNN model and designed a watermark detector based on a statistical analysis of the extracted weight parameters to evaluate whether the model is watermarked. Using a nonfungible token mitigates the overwriting of the watermark and enables checking when the DNN model with the watermark was created.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the intensity of the annual sexual behavior (SB) of Boer bucks under tropical conditions in southern Mexico. For one year, 16 extensively grazing males were evaluated for SB individually with estrogenized goats. From the beginning of the experiment and every 30 days, body weight (BW), body condition (BC), testicular circumference (TC), odor intensity (OI) and SB (nudging, ano-genital sniffing, flehmen, mounting attempts, mounts with intromission, and self-urination) were recorded. The bucks showed a more intense SB during the months of November to May than during the months of June to October (p < 0.05). Greater frequency was found for nudging, ano-genital sniffing, mounting attempts, and self-urination in the months of November to May (p < 0.001). BW was lower during the months of January to August than in the months of September to December (p < 0.05). On the other hand, TC increased from October to December (p < 0.05). Similarly, the OI in males varied over time (time effect; p < 0.001). In fact, an increased odor was found from October to December. The conclusions were that breed male goats from the tropics of Guerrero have a more intense SB during the months of November to May, which corresponds to the time of the year when forage availability is the greatest.

Keywords: Obesity; hypothalamus; appetite; glucose homeostasis; weight-loss drugs; AGRP; POMC; NTS; incretins.

Build a special identical equation, use its calculation characters to prove and search for solution of any odd converging to 1 equation through (*3+1)/2^k operation, change the operation to (*3+2^m-1)/2^k, and get a solution for this equation, give a specific example to verify. Thus prove the Collatz Conjecture is true. Furthermore, analysis the sequences produced by iteration calculation during the procedure of searching for solution, build a weight function model, prove it decrease progressively to 0, build a complement weight function model, prove it increase to its convergence state. Build a (*3+2^m-1)/2^k odd tree, prove if odd in (*3+2^m-1)/2^k long huge odd sequence can not converge, the sequence must outstep the boundary of the tree after infinite steps of (*3+2^m-1)/2^k operation.

In Japan, the prevalence of low birth weight (LBW) has been estimated to be approximately 10%, which is the highest among developed countries. This high prevalence might affect the prevalence of LBW-associated diseases in the adult population of Japan. Recently, LBW has been recognized as a contributing factor to post-adaptive focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) in adulthood; however, few reports to date have evaluated the clinical and pathological characteristics of post-adaptive FSGS. A 13-year-old girl was referred to our hospital owing to mild proteinuria, which was detected at a school urinary screening. She was born at a gestational age of 23 weeks, with a very LBW of 630 g. Dipstick urinalysis revealed grade (2+) proteinuria. Her serum creatinine level was 1.02 mg/dL, and she was diagnosed as having stage 2 chronic kidney disease (CKD). Her serum uric acid level was 7 mg/dL. Her mother and 16-years old brother had hyperuricemia, too. A percutaneous renal biopsy leads to a diagnosis of FSGS. After 3 years of treatment with an angiotensin receptor blocker, her proteinuria decreased. However, her serum creatinine level was 1.07 mg/dL, and she still had stage 2 CKD. We considered that in this patient, the first hit was her LBW, and the second hit was hyperuricemia. The second hit might be associated with the development of CKD. The birth history of patients is not usually confirmed by nephrologists. Our case demonstrates that obtaining information regarding the preterm birth and LBW of patients is important in the diagnosis of noncommunicable diseases, because school urinary screening is not routinely performed in countries other than Japan.

The COVID-19 pandemic starting in the first half of 2020 has changed the lives of everyone across the world. Reduced mobility was essential due to it being the largest impact possible against the spread of the little understood SARS-CoV-2 virus. To understand the spread, a comprehension of human mobility patterns is needed. The use of mobility data in modelling is thus essential to capture the intrinsic spread through the population. It is necessary to determine to what extent mobility data convey the same message of mobility within a region. This paper compares different mobility data sources by constructing spatial weight matrices and further compares the results through hierarchical clustering. This provides insight for the user into which data provides what type of information and in what situations a particular source is most useful.

One of the major challenges in the post-genomic era is elucidating the genetic basis of human diseases. In recent years, studies have shown that polygenic risk scores (PRS), based on aggregated information from millions of variants across the human genome, can estimate individual risk for common diseases. In practice, the current medical practice still predominantly relies on physiological and clinical indicators to assess personal disease risk. For example, caregivers mark individuals with high body mass index (BMI) as having an increased risk to develop type 2 diabetes (T2D). An important question is whether combining PRS with clinical metrics can increase the power of disease prediction in particular from early life. In this work we examined this question, focusing on T2D. We show that an integrated approach combining adult BMI and PRS achieves considerably better prediction than each of the measures on unrelated Caucasians in the UK Biobank (UKB, n=290,584). Likewise, integrating PRS with self-reports on birth weight (n=172,239) and comparative body size at age ten (n=287,203) also substantially enhance prediction as compared to each of its components. While the integration of PRS with BMI achieved better results as compared to the other measurements, the latter are early-life measurements that can be integrated already at childhood, to allow preemptive intervention for those at high risk to develop T2D. Our integrated approach can be easily generalized to other diseases, with the relevant early-life measurements.

Although it is known that the gut microbiota (GM) can be modulated by diet, the efficacy of specific dietary interventions in determining its composition and diversity in obese patients remains to be ascertained. The present work aims to evaluate the impact of a moderately hypocaloric Mediterranean diet on the GM of obese and overweight patients (OB). The GM of 23 OB patients (F/M= 20/3) was compared before (T0) and after 3 months (T3) of the nutritional intervention (NI). Fecal samples were analyzed by Illumina MiSeq sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. At baseline, the GM characterization confirmed the typical obesity-associated dysbiosis. After 3 months of NI, patients presented a statistically significant reduction of the body weight and fat mass, along with changes in the relative abundance of many microbial patterns. In fact, we observed an increased abundance in several Bacteroidetes taxa (i.e. Sphingobacteriaceae, Sphingobacterium, Bacteroides spp., Prevotella stercorea) and depletion of many Firmicutes taxa (i.e. Lachnospiraceae members, Ruminococcaceae and Ruminococcus, Veillonellaceae, Catenibacterium, Megamonas). In addition, the phylum Proteobacteria showed an increased abundance, while the genus Sutterella, within the same phylum, decreased after the intervention. Metabolic pathways, predicted by bioinformatic analyses, showed a decrease in membrane transport and cell motility after NI. The present study extends our knowledge of the GM profiles in OB, highlighting the potential benefit of a moderate caloric restriction in counteracting the gut dysbiosis.

Different cohort studies documented a lower glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in former extremely low birth weight (ELBW, <1000 g) neonates throughout childhood when compared to term controls. The current aim is to pool these studies to describe the GFR pattern over the pediatric age range. To do so, we conducted a systematic review on studies reporting on GFR measurements in former ELBW cases while GFR data of healthy age-matched controls included in these studies were co-collected. Based on 248 hits, 6 case-control and 3 cohort studies were identified, with 444 GFR measurements in 380 former ELBW cases (median age 5.3-20.7 years). The majority were small (17-78 cases) single center studies, with heterogeneity in GFR measurement (inulin, Cystatin C or creatinine estimated GFR formulae) tools. Despite this, the median GFR (ml/kg/1.73m²) within case-control studies was consistently lower (-13, range -8 to -25%) in cases, so that a relevant minority (15-30%) has a eGFR<90 mgl/kg/1.73m²). Consequently, this pooled analysis describes a consistent pattern of reduced eGFR in former ELBW cases throughout childhood. Research should focus on perinatal risk factors for impaired GFR and long-term outcome, but is hampered by single center cohorts, study size, and heterogeneity of GFR assessment tools.

Due to their increased surface area, extent of swelling and active substance loading capacity and flexibility, nanogels made from natural and synthetic polymers have gained significant interest in the scientific and industrial areas. Especially, customized design and implementation of non-toxic, biocompatible, and biodegradable micro/nano carriers makes their usage very feasible for a range of biomedical applications, including drug delivery, tissue engineering, and bioimaging. The design and application methodologies of nanogels have been outlined in this review. Additionally, the most recent advancements in nanogel biomedical applications have been discussed, with a particular emphasis on applications for the delivery of drugs and biomolecules.