In this paper, using the discrete time model, we consider the average age of all files for a cached-files-updating system where a server generates N files and transmits them to a local cache. In order that the cached files are fresh, in each time slot the server updates files with certain probabilities. The age of one file or its age of information (AoI) is defined as the time the file stays in cache since it was last time sent to cache. Assume that each file in cache has corresponding request popularity. In this paper, we obtain the distribution function of the popularity-weighted average age over all files, which gives a complete description of this average age. For the random age of single file, both the mean and its distribution have been derived before by establishing a simple Markov chain. Using the same idea, we show that an N dimensional stochastic process can be constituted to characterize the changes of N file ages simultaneously. By solving the steady-state of the resulting process, we obtain the explicit expression of stationary probability for an arbitrary state-vector. Then, the distribution function of the popularity-weighted average age can be derived by mergering a proper set of stationary probabilities. For the possible applications, the distribution function can be utilized to calculate the probability that the average age violates certain statistical guarantee.

The age of information (AoI) metric was proposed to measure the freshness of messages obtained at the terminal node of a status updating system. In this paper, the AoI of discrete time status updating system with probabilistic packet preemption is investigated by analyzing the steady state of a three-dimensional discrete stochastic process. Assuming the queue used in system is Ber/Geo/1/2*/η, which represents that the system size is 2 and the packet in buffer can be preempted by fresher packet with probability η. Instead of considering system’s AoI separately, we use a three-dimensional state vector (n,m,l) to simultaneously track the real time changes of the AoI, the age of packet in server, and the age of packet waiting in buffer. We give the explicit expression of system’s average AoI, and show that the average AoI of system without packet preemption is obtained by letting η=0. When η is set to 1, the mean of AoI of system having Ber/Geo/1/2* queue is obtained as well. Combining the results we have obtained and comparing them with corresponding average continuous AoIs, we propose a possible relationship between average discrete AoI with Ber/Geo/1/c queue and the average continuous AoI with M/M/1/c queue. For each of two extreme cases where η=0 and η=1, we also determine the stationary distribution of AoI using the probability generation function (PGF) method. The relations between average AoI and the packet preemption probability η, as well as AoI’s distribution curves in two extreme cases are illustrated by numerical simulations. Notice that the probabilistic packet preemption may occur, for example, in an energy harvest (EH) node of wireless sensor network, where the packet in buffer can be replaced only when the node collects enough energy. In particular, to exhibit the usefulness of our idea and methods and highlight the merits of considering discrete time systems, in this paper we give much more explanations showing that how the results about continuous AoI is derived by analyzing the corresponding discrete time system, and how the discrete age analysis is generalized to the system with multiple sources. In terms of packet service process, we also propose our idea to analyze system’s AoI when the service time distribution is relaxed to be arbitrary.

In the heterogeneous wireless networked control system (WNCS), age of information (AoI) of the actuation update and actuation update cost are important performance metrics. To reduce the monetary cost, the control system can wait for the availability of WiFi network of the actuator and then conduct the update by using WiFi network in an opportunistic manner, but it leads to the increased AoI of the actuation update. To assess this problem, this paper proposes a priority-aware actuation update scheme (PAUS) where the control system decides whether to deliver or delay the actuation update to the actuator by considering the control priority (i.e., robustness of AoI of the actuation update). For the optimal decision, we formulate a Markov decision process model and derive the optimal policy based on Q-learning. Simulation results demonstrate that PAUS outperforms the comparison schemes in terms of the expected reward.

In the design of multi-loop Networked Control Systems (NCSs) wherein each control system is characterized by heterogeneous dynamics and associated with certain set of timing specifications and constraints, appropriate metrics need to be employed for the synthesis of control and networking policies to efficiently respond to the requirements of each control loop. Majority of the design approaches for sampling, scheduling and control policies include either time-based or event-based metrics to perform pertinent actions in response to the changes of the parameters of interest. We specifically focus in this article on Age-of-Information (AoI) as a recently-developed time-based metric and threshold-based triggering function as a generic event-based metric. As the NCS model, we consider multiple heterogeneous stochastic linear control systems that close their feedback loops over a shared-resource communication network. We investigate the co-design across the NCS, and discuss the pros and cons with AoI and ET approaches in terms of asymptotic control performance measured by linear-quadratic Gaussian (LQG) cost functions. In particular, sampling and scheduling policies combining AoI and stochastic event-triggered metrics are proposed. It is argued that pure AoI functions that generate decision variables solely upon minimizing the average age irrespective of control systems dynamics may not be able to improve the overall NCS performance even compared with pure randomized policies. Our theoretical analyses are successfully validated through several simulation scenarios.

Tobacco use, most people would say. Smoking tobacco increases the risk of developing many types of cancer and is responsible for approximately one-third of all cancer deaths. The association between tobacco use and lung cancer is well known; lung cancer occurs about 20 times more often in heavy smokers than in nonsmokers [1]. However, many lung cancers are diagnosed in never smokers [2], and most smokers do not develop lung cancer [3,4].

The evaluation of research proposals and academic careers is subject to indicators of scientific productivity. Citations are critical signs of impact for researchers, and many indicators are based on these data. The literature shows that there are differences in citation patterns between areas. The scope and depth that these differences may have to motivate the extension of these studies considering types of articles and age groups of researchers. In this work, we conducted an exploratory study to elucidate what evidence there is about the existence of these differences in citation patterns. To perform this study, we collected historical data from Scopus. Analyzing these data, we evaluate if there are measurable differences in citation patterns. This study shows that there are evident differences in citation patterns between areas, types of publications, and age groups of researchers that may be relevant when carrying out researchers’ academic evaluation.

Vaccine hesitancy remains a public health challenge. It has been argued that the sources of vaccine-related information may serve as important condiments to one’s decision to be vaccinated. However, little empirical attention is given to the subject. We contribute to this debate by assessing the level of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and the role of information explaining hesitancy, using the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality of South Africa as a case study. Findings confirm high level of vaccine hesitancy, representing 78.8 percent of the respondents (which is above the national level of 41%). Furthermore, findings reveal that vaccination decisions are influenced by family, which is the most trusted among all institutions in the society, especially on sensitive matters and those shrouded by myths and misinformation. Additionally, the majority trusts health care workers and mass media as sources of health-related and general information; however, the use of popular personalities to convey health information is not supported. The findings reveal key socio-demographic and institutional drivers of COVD-9 vaccine hesitancy, such as age, inadequate information on the vaccine, trust issues, conspiracy beliefs, vaccine-related factors, and perceived side effects associated with the vaccine. Recommendations based on the findings are provided.

Hemilauxania parvula sp. nov., a new fossil species of the family Lauxaniidae (Diptera: Acalyptratae), is described and illustrated from Oise amber, France (Eocene, lower Ypresian, ca 53 Ma) and its relationship is discussed. Inasmuch as this first finding of a member of Schizophora in Oise amber probably represents the oldest known record of this group of Diptera, the age of Schizophora, based on the known fossil records, is discussed.

BACKGROUND: Cervical cancer is the second most frequent cancer among women worldwide between 14 and 49 years of age including Nigeria. Figures have greatly reduced in developed countries after the introduction and implementation of effective screening and vaccination programs which is greatly undeveloped and inefficient in Nigeria and other developing countries at large. OBJECTIVES: The study assessed the knowledge and attitude of reproductive age women towards cervical cancer prevention in selected tertiary institutions in Osun State. METHODOLOGY: The study was a descriptive cross-sectional study carried out among reproductive age women in selected tertiary institutions in Osun State, Nigeria. A probability based multistage sampling technique was adopted as the sampling technique for the study. Data was collected using a semi-structured, self-administered and interviewer guided questionnaire. RESULTS: Age of respondents was 25.305±8.195. 313(79.0%) of the total respondents were Christians, and 83(21.0%) of the respondents were Muslims. For the overall knowledge score, only 52.0% of the respondents had good knowledge while 48.0% of the respondents had poor knowledge. 52.0% exhibited negative attitude towards cervical cancer prevention while 48% exhibited positive attitude towards cervical cancer prevention. Only 23% of the respondents had taken part in screening and vaccination towards cervical cancer prevention while 77% of the respondents had not. CONCLUSION: The knowledge of reproductive age women towards cervical cancer prevention was above average while their attitude towards cervical cancer prevention was low. This issue could be addressed by increasing the awareness of the effects of cervical cancer among reproductive age women in the country.

Schizophrenia patients with an earlier age of onset have been found to have more serious negative symptoms and cognitive deficits. Oxidative stress is thought to be implicated in cognitive impair-ment in schizophrenia. Total antioxidant capacity (TAOC) is an essential indicator of oxidative stress. However, the association between age of onset, TAOC, and cognitive performance in schizophrenia is still unexplored. In this study, 201 patients (age: 26.5±9.6 years, male: 53.2%) with drug naïve schizophrenia were recruited. Clinical symptoms were evaluated using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Cognitive functioning was assessed using the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS). Plasma TAOC levels were an-alyzed using established procedures. Results showed that early-onset (EO) patients had higher TAOC levels, more severe negative symptoms and performed worse on Visuospatial/Constructional, Language and RBANS total score compared with non-EO patients. After Bonferroni correction, only non-EO patients showed a significant inverse relationship between TAOC levels and RBANS language, attention, and total scores. Our findings suggest that early /late age of onset may be correlated with psychopathological symptoms, cognitive impairment and oxidative responses in schizophrenia. Furthermore, the age of onset may moderate the relationship between TAOC and cognitive function in patients with schizophrenia. These findings suggest that improving oxidative stress status in non-EO schizophrenia patients may enhance their cognitive function.

Background: Prior to the federal law passed in late 2019, many states passed an increased age of sale law prohibiting youth under age 21 (or Tobacco 21) from purchasing tobacco products and e-cigarettes. Although previous research has documented tobacco retail sales violations, fewer studies have examined age verification and illegal tobacco sales in the context of Tobacco 21 or in repeated purchase attempts in various settings. Methods: In this study conducted between 2019 and 2022, buyers aged 18 to 20 years made repeated unsupervised purchase attempts of cigarettes, cigars, e-cigarettes, tobacco-free nicotine pouches and/or smokeless tobacco in store visits to over 180 tobacco or vape retailers in New Jersey, New York City, and Pitt County, North Carolina. Buyers documented whether they were asked for identification and whether they were able to successfully purchase a tobacco or nicotine product at each visit. Results: The primary outcome will be the percent of retailers that checked buyers’ identification at store visits and the precent of visits that resulted in a successful underage tobacco product purchase. We will aim to compare the results across time periods and study sites while controlling for other factors (including repeated visits). Conclusion: These results will be beneficial to designing compliance check inspections and/or interventions that reduce youth access to tobacco.

The lack of application of management models that allow strategies to be converted into action and then measure their results in order to apply improvement actions to meet the objectives in small and medium-sized companies (SMEs); they generate problems in their management causing the closure of their operations unexpectedly; To mitigate the risks of closure and bankruptcy with the support of ICT, an alternative was presented considering that risk management is important in decision making at a strategic, tactical and operational level. The objective is to design a prototype to mitigate risks and prevent threats to avoid the closure of this type of company. Through the analysis of related articles, applying sequences of methodological steps; It was determined that the proposed results are aimed at how to identify and mitigate the risks and threats that cause their bankruptcy and closure. Prototypes resulted that allow mitigating risks, preventing threats and minimizing vulnerabilities in the management of SMEs. It was concluded that the proposed prototype to detect threats and vulnerabilities provides an optimal security model for small and medium-sized companies; As a result of the simulations, a security percentage of 77.92% was established, which means that the greater the number of risks and threats, the greater the probability that a small and medium-sized company will close.

Central to an understanding of the physical nature of biosystems is an apprehension of their ability to control entropy dynamics in their environment.  To achieve ongoing stability and survival, living systems must adaptively respond to incoming information signals concerning matter and energy perturbations in their biological continuum (biocontinuum).  Entropy dynamics for the living system are then determined by the natural drive for reconciliation of these information divergences in the context of the constraints formed by the geometry of the biocontinuum information space.  The configuration of this information geometry is determined by the inherent biological structure, processes and adaptive controls that are necessary for the stable functioning of the organism.  The trajectory of this adaptive reconciliation process can be described by an information-theoretic formulation of the living system’s procedure for actionable knowledge acquisition that incorporates the axiomatic inference of the Kullback Principle of Minimum Information Discrimination (a derivative of Jaynes’ principle of maximal entropy). Utilizing relative information for entropic inference provides for the incorporation of a background of the adaptive constraints in biosystems within the operations of Fisher biologic replicator dynamics.  This mathematical expression for entropic dynamics within the biocontinuum may then serve as a theoretical framework for the general analysis of biological phenomena.

We present information theoretic search strategies for single and multi-robot teams to localize the source of biochemical contaminants in turbulent flows. The robots synthesize the information provided by sporadic and intermittent sensor readings to optimize their exploration strategy. By leveraging the spatio-temporal sensing capabilities of a mobile sensing network, our strategies result in control actions that maximize the information gained by the team while optimizing the time spent localizing the position of the biochemical source. By leveraging the team's ability to obtain simultaneous measurements at different locations, we show how a multi-robot team is able to speed up the search process resulting in a collaborative information theoretic search strategy. We validate our proposed strategies in both simulations and experiments.

Acute exposure to cannabis has been associated with an array of cognitive alterations, increased risk for neuropsychiatric illness, and other neuropsychiatric sequelae including the emergence of acute psychotic symptoms. However, the brain alterations associating cannabis use and these behavioral and clinical phenotypes remains disputed. To this end, neuroimaging can be a powerful technique to non-invasively study the impact of cannabis exposure on brain structure and function in both humans and animal models. While chronic exposure studies provide insight into how use may be related to long-term outcomes, acute exposure may reveal interesting information regarding the immediate impact of use and abuse on brain circuits. Understanding these alterations could reveal the connection with symptom dimensions in neuropsychiatric disorders and, more specifically with psychosis. The purpose of the present review is to: 1) provide an update on the findings of pharmacological neuroimaging studies examining the effects of administered cannabinoids and 2) focus the discussion on studies that examine the sensitive window for the emergence of psychosis. Current literature indicates that cannabis exposure has varied effects on the brain, with the principal compounds in cannabis (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol) altering activity across different brain regions. Importantly, we also discorvered critical gaps in the literature, particularly regarding sex-dependent responses and long-term effects of chronic exposure. Certain networks often characterized as dysregulated in psychosis, like the default mode network and limbic system, were also impacted by THC exposure, identifying areas of particular interest for future work investigating the potential relationship between the two.

The hypothesis posed was whether participation in LaLiga Genuine Santander (competitive football) influenced the quality of life (QL) of the people who participated in it, since their perception of themselves is enhanced by all the aformentioned factors (self-determination, social inclusion, emotional well-being, physical well-being, material well-being, rights, personal development, interpersonal relationships). The objective was to evaluate the QL of people with Down's Syndrome (DS) using their self-perception (n=39) and the perception of the informants (family members, teachers) (n=39). The KidsLife-Down Scale, with a few modifications was used. In general, differences of opinion between the subgroups of participants with DS and informants showed that results were higher in terms of perception for participants in the DS subgroup. Scores for all variables were higher for those participants with DS who said they did engage in practicing competitive football. Despite the perception of informants provides a great deal of information regarding the QL of participants with DS, the latter should be involved in the evaluation process and their self perceptions taken into account. Our research shows that participation in the league modifies the perceptions of the participants with Down's Syndrome regarding their quality of life. However, these perceptions are not shared by the informants.

Artificial Intelligence innovations, such as chatbots and specialized education suggestion tools, provide potential interactive and on-demand pedagogical engagement between non-Christians and Christians with Christianity. However, there is little empirical research on the readiness, acceptance, and adoption of A.I.'s involvement in religious education in a secular state, such as Vietnam. This research addresses the literature gap by providing an entrepreneurial analysis and customer perspectives on the ideas of A.I.'s involvement in religious education. Specifically, the study explores whether the Vietnamese across different ages and religious orientations accept and have enough skills to adopt A.I.'s religious education innovation. The interview sample is 32 participants, selected based on their religious orientation (Christians & Non-Christians) and age (Generation X, Generation Y & Generation Z). Most respondents are open to A.I. application in religious education except for the Church's personnel. However, only gen Z generations are fully prepared to adopt this innovation. Theoretically, the research customizes the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model into religious innovation context. Practically, this research acts as market research on the demand for A.I.'s religious innovation in Vietnam, an insight for future religious tech entrepreneurs.

The fact that real dissipative (entropy producing) processes may be detected by non–comoving observers (tilted), in systems that appear to be isentropic for comoving observers, in general relativity, is explained in terms of the information theory, in analogy with the explanation of the Maxwell's demon paradox.

The paper considers the symmetries of a bit of information corresponding to one, two or three qubits of quantum information and identifiable as the three basic symmetries of the Standard model, U(1), SU(2), and SU(3) accordingly. They refer to “empty qubits” (or the free variable of quantum information), i.e. those in which no point is chosen (recorded). The choice of a certain point violates those symmetries. It can be represented furthermore as the choice of a privileged reference frame (e.g. that of the Big Bang), which can be described exhaustively by means of 16 numbers (4 for position, 4 for velocity, and 8 for acceleration) independently of time, but in space-time continuum, and still one, 17th number is necessary for the mass of rest of the observer in it. The same 17 numbers describing exhaustively a privileged reference frame thus granted to be “zero”, respectively a certain violation of all the three symmetries of the Standard model or the “record” in a qubit in general, can be represented as 17 elementary wave functions (or classes of wave functions) after the bijection of natural and transfinite natural (ordinal) numbers in Hilbert arithmetic and further identified as those corresponding to the 17 elementary of particles of the Standard model. Two generalizations of the relevant concepts of general relativity are introduced: (1) “discrete reference frame” to the class of all arbitrarily accelerated reference frame constituting a smooth manifold; (2) a still more general principle of relativity to the general principle of relativity, and meaning the conservation of quantum information as to all discrete reference frames as to the smooth manifold of all reference frames of general relativity. Then, the bijective transition from an accelerated reference frame to the 17 elementary wave functions of the Standard model can be interpreted by the still more general principle of relativity as the equivalent redescription of a privileged reference frame: smooth into a discrete one. The conservation of quantum information related to the generalization of the concept of reference frame can be interpreted as restoring the concept of the ether, an absolutely immovable medium and reference frame in Newtonian mechanics, to which the relative motion can be interpreted as an absolute one, or logically: the relations, as properties. The new ether is to consist of qubits (or quantum information). One can track the conceptual pathway of the “ether” from Newtonian mechanics via special relativity, via general relativity, via quantum mechanics to the theory of quantum information (or “quantum mechanics and information”). The identification of entanglement and gravity can be considered also as a ‘byproduct” implied by the transition from the smooth “ether of special and general relativity’ to the “flat” ether of quantum mechanics and information. The qubit ether is out of the “temporal screen” in general and is depicted on it as both matter and energy, both dark and visible.

Fluctuation theorems are a class of equalities each of which links a thermodynamic path functional such as heat and work to a state function such as entropy and free energy. Jinwoo and Tanaka [L. Jinwoo and H. Tanaka, Sci. Rep. 5, 7832 (2015)] have shown that each microstate of a fluctuating system can be regarded as an ensemble (or a 'macrostate') if we consider trajectories that reach each microstate. They have revealed that local forms of entropy and free energy are true thermodynamic potentials of each microstate, encoding heat, and work, respectively, within an ensemble of paths that reach each state. Here we show that information that is characterized by the local form of mutual information between two subsystems in a heat bath is also a true thermodynamic potential of each coupled state and encodes the entropy production of the subsystems and heat bath during a coupling process. To this end, we extend the fluctuation theorem of information exchange [T. Sagawa and M. Ueda, Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 180602 (2012)] by showing that the fluctuation theorem holds even within an ensemble of paths that reach a coupled state during dynamic co-evolution of two subsystems.

UNESCO highlights socio-emotional, cognitive, and behavioral learning as critical for advancing sustainability. As major events, sports generate significant social, economic, and environmental impacts. This study analyzed how academic background, gender, age, sport type, and modality influenced elite Colombian Olympic and Paralympic athletes' socio-emotional competencies. Methods: Colombian elite athletes who were members of the “Support to the Excellence Coldeportes Athlete” participated in the study. The total population studied included 334 Colombian elite athletes: mean age 27.10 ± 6.57 years old with 13.66 ± 6.37 years practicing his/her sports modality. The socio-emotional competencies of the participants were assessed using the Socio-emotional Competencies Scale (SECS). Results: Men scored higher in interpersonal regulation, self-awareness, conflict resolution, and emotional regulation. Younger athletes (≤25 years) had higher self-consciousness. Individual versus team sports did not differ. Paralympians showed higher motivation, self-awareness, teamwork, and emotional regulation. University educated athletes scored higher in motivation, self-awareness, teamwork, and empathy. All competencies positively correlated. Conclusion: Individualized interventions targeting improved socio-emotional performance are vital for sustainability and should account for differences across gender, age, education, and disability status.

Purpose: Perceptual learning and production practice are basic mechanisms that children depend on to acquire adult levels of speech accuracy. In this study, we examined perceptual learning and production practice as they contributed to changes in speech accuracy in three- and four-year-old children. Our primary focus was manipulating the order of perceptual learning and baseline production practice to better understand when and how these learning mechanisms interact. Method: Sixty-five typically-developing children between the ages of three and four were included in the study. Children were asked to produce CVCCVC nonwords like /bozjəm/ and /tʌvtʃəp/ that were described as the names of make-believe animals. All children completed two separate experimental blocks: a baseline block in which participants heard each nonword once and repeated it, and a test block in which the perceptual input frequency of each nonword varied between 1 and 10. Half of the participants completed a baseline-test order; half completed a test-baseline order. Results: Greater accuracy was observed for nonwords produced in the second experimental block, reflecting a production practice effect. Perceptual learning resulted in greater accuracy during the test for nonwords that participants heard 3 or more times. However, perceptual learning did not carry over to baseline productions in the test-baseline design, suggesting that it reflects a kind of temporary priming. Finally, a post hoc analysis suggested that the size of the production practice effect depended on the age of acquisition of the consonants that comprised the nonwords. Conclusions: The study provides new details about how perceptual learning and production practice interact with each other and with phonological aspects of the nonwords, resulting in complex effects on speech accuracy and learning of form-referent pairs. These findings may ultimately help speech-language pathologists maximize their clients’ improvement in therapy.

I review previous attempts, including recent ones, to introduce technical aspects of digital information and computation into the discussion of ethics. I survey some limitations and advantages of these attempts to produce guiding principles at different scales. In particular, I briefly introduce and discuss questions, approaches, challenges, and limitations based on, or related to, simulation, information theory, integrated information, computer simulation, intractability, algorithmic complexity, and measures of computational organisation and sophistication. I discuss and propose a set of features that ethical frameworks must possess in order to be considered well-grounded, both in theoretical and methodological terms. I will show that while global ethical frameworks that are uncomputable are desirable because they provide non-teleological direction and open-ended meaning, constrained versions should be able to provide guidelines at more local and immediate time scales. In connection to the ethics of artificial intelligence, one point that must be underscored about computational approaches is that (General) AI should only embrace an ethical framework that we humans are willing to adopt. I think that such a framework is possible, taking the form of a general and universal (in the sense of computation) framework built from first computational principles.

In contemporary sociological discourse, social trust emerges as a fundamental determinant in catalyzing positive socio-economic interactions. The nexus between social relationships and the inherent trust within them is quintessential for the holistic well-being of individuals. The current research undertook a rigorous examination of the variations in generalized trust levels across distinct age cohorts. For this empirical investigation, a dataset comprising 2,232 observations, exclusively from the United States, was meticulously sourced from the World Value Survey.The empirical findings elucidated a significant disparity in generalized trust levels across age cohorts. Notably, the geriatric demographic manifested elevated levels of generalized trust in juxtaposition to their younger counterparts. Such an observation posits the hypothesis that the construct of trust may indeed possess an age-related dimensionality. Furthermore, a robust statistical analysis accentuated the significance of these observed disparities. The divergences in trust levels across age cohorts retained their statistical significance even post the incorporation of confounding variables such as gender, socio-economic status, educational attainment, ethnic lineage, and religious affiliations. This seminal finding underscores the imperative for further academic explorations into the intricate dynamics of trust within the socio-cultural fabric of our society.

This article introduces a new fractional approach to the concept of information dimension of complex networks, based on a (q,q′)-entropy proposed in the literature. The q parameter measures how far is the number of subsystems (for a given size ε) from the mean number of overall sizes. The q′ (interaction index) measures when the interactions between subsystems are greater (q′>1), lesser (q′<1) or equal to the interactions into these subsystems. The computations of the proposed information dimension are carried out on several real-world and synthetic complex networks. The results from the proposed information dimension are compared with those from the information dimension based on the Shannon entropy.

When we attempt to define life, we tend to refer to individuals, those that are alive. But these individuals might be cells, organisms, colonies... ecosystems? We can describe living systems at different scales. Which ones might be the best ones to describe different selves? I explore this question using concepts from information theory, ALife, and Buddhist philosophy. After brief introductions, I review the implications of changing the scale of observation, and how this affects our understanding of selves at different structural, temporal, and informational scales. The conclusion is that there is no single ``best'' scale for a self, as this will depend on the scale at which decisions must be made. Different decisions, different scales.

We present the detailed calculations of social distancing requirement. A comparative study of the growth pattern and death tolls in different communities indicates that the growth pattern of infected patients and death rate follow the similar distribution with different parametrizations. Every distribution follows an exponential growth pattern curve, like other microbes, then reaches the saturation point an d eventually decay s However, the argument for the exponential function depends on several parameters unbeknownst, as of yet. However, the slope varies different ial ly for various epicenter s and seems to have a relationship with parameters such as accessibi lity to healthcare facilities, pre existing medical conditions socio economic conditions and lifestyle. The mismatch of the growth pattern is also linked with the impact of various other factors and a premature interpretation of limit ed data. Novel behavi or of the virus brought many surprises, opened up new venues for medical research, and the need for the more detailed study of pathogens in the light of the interaction of RNA and DNA The adaptability to diverse ecological condition s and the relevant modification in the structure is also worth investigation The genetic modification can be studied using quantum mechanical probabilistic approach.

Delve into the ebb and flow of human ingenuity as the researcher traces the evolution of writing from papyrus to pixels. Discover how humble instruments like quill pens and typewriters have propelled human into the digital frontier, forever reshaping the art of expression in the modern age. This article examines the evolution of writing tools from traditional pen and paper to digital writing in the modern age. It explores the development of writing materials such as papyrus, parchment, and paper, as well as the invention of writing tools including quill pens, fountain pens, and typewriters. The rise of digital writing tools, including word processing software and smartphones, is also discussed, along with their benefits such as increased efficiency and productivity, enhanced collaboration and sharing capabilities, and greater accessibility and flexibility. However, the article also highlights the challenges of writing in the digital age, including the impact of digital distractions on writing focus and quality, the issue of online plagiarism and copyright infringement, and the potential loss of traditional writing skills. The article concludes with recommendations for educators, school administrators, students, and researchers to strike a balance between digital and traditional writing practices, to embrace digital writing tools while preserving traditional writing skills, and to understand the importance of the evolution of writing. The theoretical frameworks of Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) Theory, Media Ecology Theory, and Activity Theory are also discussed in relation to the evolution of writing tools. Overall, this article provides valuable insights into the history, benefits, and challenges of writing in the digital age, as well as suggestions for navigating the future of writing and its tools.

Colorectal cancer remains one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers. Advanced rectal cancer patients receive neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy as well as surgery and suffer under reduced health-related quality of life due to various side effects. We were interested in the role of the COVID-19 pandemic and how it affected those patients’ quality of life. A total of 489 advanced rectal cancer patients from the University Hospital Erlangen in Germany were surveyed between May 2010 and March 2022 and asked to fill out the EORTC QLQ-C30 and QLQ-CR38 questionnaire over eight different time points: in the beginning, during and after radiochemotherapy, right before surgery and in yearly intervals after surgery for up to four years. Answers were converted to scores to compare the COVID-19 period to the time before March 2020 focusing on the follow-ups, the developments over time – including by sex and age - and the influence of the TNM cT-stage. Overall, a trend of impaired functional and symptom scores was found across all surveys with few significances (body image -10.6 percentage points (pp) after one year; defecation problems +13.5 pp, insomnia +10.2 pp and weight loss +9.8 pp after three years; defecation problems +11.3 pp after four years). cT4-stage patients lost significantly more weight than their cT1-3-stage counterparts (+10.7 to 13.7 pp). Further studies should be conducted to find possible causes and develop countermeasures for future major infectious diseases.

The Covid-19 pandemic has forced the transfer of local government public ser-vices to the virtual world. Remote handling of matters in government offices has be-come the norm rather than the exception. The 2016 EU directive on public sector web-sites and mobile applications and the 2019 European Digital Accessibility Act made it mandatory that these services be provided electronically and accessible to people with disabilities. The purpose of the study conducted by the authors was to determine whether the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in the implementation of European solutions in the Polish legal order and whether this implementation resulted in the actual adap-tation of digital activities of local government units (LGUs) to the needs of people with disabilities. The research was conducted in Q4 2022 in two trial formats: 1. In the form of a survey (about 250 LGUs), which covered compliance with for-mal requirements, the level of readiness of the officials to create digitally accessible documents and content, and organizational readiness of the offices. 2. In the form of an analysis of the source code of the websites of 66 Polish cities with county rights - due to the availability of results of the same sample from 2015. The completed research showed that the LGUs in Poland: 1. met the formal and organizational requirements for digital accessibility, 2. did not make the necessary efforts to prepare employees to create digitally ac-cessible documents and content, 3. the surveyed websites had inferior source code in terms of meeting the WCAG standard in 2022 than in 2015. It seems reasonable to conclude that the Covid-19 pandemic had a formal, rather than real, impact on the digital accessibility of services provided by Polish LGUs.

We consider an evolutionary model of social coordination in a 2x2 game where two groups of players prefer to coordinate on different actions. Players can pay a cost to learn their opponent's group: if they pay it, they can condition their actions on the groups. We assess the stability of outcomes in the long-run using stochastic stability analysis. We find that three elements matter for the equilibrium selection: the group size, the strength of preferences, and the information's cost. If the cost is too high, players never learn the group of their opponents in the long-run. If one group is stronger in preferences for its favorite action than the other, or its size is sufficiently large compared to the other group, every player plays that group's favorite action. If both groups are strong enough in preferences, or if none of the group's size is large enough, players play their favorite actions and miscoordinate in inter-group interactions. Lower levels of the cost favor coordination. Indeed, when the cost is low, in inside-group interactions, players always coordinate on their favorite action, while in inter-group interactions, they coordinate on the favorite action of the group that is stronger in preferences or large enough.

Fitts' law predicts the human movement response time for a specific task by a simple linear formulation, in which the intercept and the slope are estimated from the task's empirical data. This research was motivated by our pilot study, which found that the linear regression's essential assumptions are not satisfied in the literature. Furthermore, the keystone hypothesis in Fitts' law, that the movement time per response will be directly proportional to the minimum average amount of information per response demanded by the particular amplitude and target width, has never been formally tested. Therefore, this study developed an optional formulation derived from fusing the findings in psychology, physics, and physiology for fulfilling the statistical assumptions. An experiment was designed to test the hypothesis in Fitts' law and validate the proposed model. To conclude, our results indicated that movement time could be related to the index of difficulty underlying the same constant amplitude. The optional formulation accompanies the index of difficulty in Shannon form robustly performs the prediction better than the traditional model across studies. Finally, a new approach to modeling movement time prediction is deduced from our research results

Perception and motor interaction with physical surroundings can be analyzed by the changes in probability laws governing two possible outcomes of neuronal activity, namely the presence or absence of spikes (binary states). Perception and motor interaction with physical environment are accounted partly by the reduction in entropy within the probability distributions of binary states of neurons in distributed neural circuits, given the knowledge about the characteristics of stimuli in physical surroundings. This reduction in the total entropy of multiple pairs of circuits in networks, by an amount equal to the increase of mutual information among them, occurs as sensory information is processed successively from lower to higher cortical areas or between different areas at the same hierarchical level but belonging to different networks. The increase in mutual information is partly accounted by temporal coupling as well as synaptic connections as proposed by Bahmer and Gupta [1]. We propose that robust increases in mutual information, measuring the association between the characteristics of sensory inputs and neural circuits connectivity patterns, are partly responsible for perception and successful motor interactions with physical surroundings. It is also argued that perception from a sensory input is the result of networking of many circuits to a common circuit that primarily processes the given sensory input.

Linear mixed models are frequently used for analysing heterogeneous data in a broad range of applications. The restricted maximum likelihood method is often preferred to estimate co-variance parameters in such models due to its unbiased estimation of the underlying variance parameters. The restricted log-likelihood function involves log determinants of a complicated co-variance matrix. An efficient statistical estimate of the underlying model parameters and quantifying the accuracy of the estimation requires the first derivatives and the second derivatives of the restricted log-likelihood function, i.e., the observed information. Standard approaches to compute the observed information and its expectation, the Fisher information, is computationally prohibitive for linear mixed models with thousands random and fixed effects. Customized algorithms are of highly demand to keep mixed models analysis scalable for increasing high-throughput heterogeneous data sets. In this paper, we explore how to leverage an averaged information splitting technique and dedicate matrix transform to significantly reduce computations and to accelerate computing. Together with a fill-in reducing multi-frontal sparse direct solver, the averaged information splitting approach improves the performance of the computation process.

The Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD) 2019 reveals an increasing prevalence of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) from 1990 to 2019. This study delves into the role of dietary risk factors across different demographic and socioeconomic groups. Utilizing data from the GBD 2019, it analyzes age-adjusted T2DM metrics—death counts, Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs), and Age-Standardized Rates (ASR)—stratified by age, sex, and region. The study employed Estimated Annual Percentage Changes (EAPCs) to track trends over time. Results show that in 2019, 26.07% of T2DM mortality and 27.08% of T2DM DALYs were attributable to poor diets, particularly those low in fruits and high in red and processed meats. Geographic variations in T2DM trends were significant, with regions like Southern Sub-Saharan Africa and Central Asia experiencing the most substantial increases in Age-Standardized Mortality Rate (ASMR) and Age-Standardized DALY Rate (ASDR). A positive correlation was noted between Socio-Demographic Index (SDI) and T2DM burden due to dietary risk factors. The study concludes that targeted public health initiatives promoting dietary changes could substantially reduce the global T2DM burden.

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

The evolution of digital media in adolescents has changed the patterns and motives of use and the impact on their communication choices in their social and family networks. The objectives of this study are to understand how peers communicate adopting a social network (SN) or by voice and their social desirability. After the informant consent signature, the adolescents completed a series of self-report questionnaires on the use of SN, on communication preferences, and on social desirability through online. Most of the adolescents belonged to the 17-19 age group (83.6%) and were female (68.9%). Adolescents spent more than 3 hours/day on Whatsapp and more than 2 hours/day on Instagram, while the use of Facebook was on average only 35 minutes/day. Females used digital media for longer than males. Adolescents aged 17-19 years choose more Facebook and voice modes compared to adolescents aged 14 and 16 years. The alternative modes of Whatsapp and voice were chosen more than the social networks in their communication strategies, especially for negative topics. Motives for use were, in addition to boredom, related to maintaining one's social sphere with peers. Some educative considerations were made based on these results.

Although general relativity has been successful in explaining many astronomical phenomena, few problems about the contents and evolution of the universe have remained mysterious since last century. Most important of them is the cosmological constant problem in which conventional calculation of vacuum (or dark) energy density using quantum mechanics leads to a value ~10¹¹⁴ J/m³ which is ~10¹²³ times more than the vacuum energy (5.3×10^-10 J/m³) estimated from astronomical observations of expanding universe. Similarly, cosmic coincidence problem questions why the matter energy density (ordinary plus dark matter) is of the same order as the vacuum energy density at present time. Finally, the mechanism responsible for spatial flatness and expansion of the universe are not clearly understood. In this paper, by taking the vacuum as a finite and closed quantum oscillator, we solve all of the above-mentioned problems. At first, by using purely quantum mechanical approach, we predict that the dark energy density is c⁴/(GR²) = 5.27×10^-10 J/m³ (where R is radius of 3-sphere of universe) and matter energy density is c⁴/(2GR²) = 2.6×10^-10 J/m³ which match well with astronomical observations. We also prove that the dark energy has always been ~66.7% and matter energy has been ~33.3% of total energy and hence, the so called cosmic coincidence problem doesn’t exist. Next, we show how flatness of space could be maintained since the early stage of universe. Finally, using our model, we derive the expression for age and radius of universe which match well with the astronomical data.

Others have proposed that living systems are characterized by the possession of a kind of information unique to them. This information, variously called semantic, symbolic, or coding information conveys meaning from senders to recipients, most commonly among genome and other cellular components, different cells, organisms, etc., enabling all biological functions. Unlike other kinds of information, it is only indirectly quantifiable and does not increase by copying. Here, the term system information is used to encompass the entire package of coding information enabling all organisms of a species to complete their life cycles through possession of its copy (Crkvenjakov and Heng 2021). System information grows in a nonreductive evolution only during speciation proper by the acquisition of novel functions by daughter species. Contemporary science agrees that species are units of evolution but has failed to recognize and parse the importance of phases of speciation and stasis for evolution. Confinement of system information change to speciation only explains for the first time why there are species and why their number increases nearly exponentially throughout evolution. More importantly, here we define that evolution as a process operating on a planetary scale, while chance based, is non-random mathematically since it obeys the Laws of Information which dictate the behavior of System information in organisms. Growth and persistence of system information on the non-degenerative portion of Tree of Life follow the law of conservation, which states that its growth is as parsimonious (minimal) as possible and the persistence of parental system information the maximal possible in each unit speciation step. This formulation is a restatement of Loewnstain's (1999) principle of information economy and our lock-in law (Crkvenjakov and Drmanac 2007). The principle holds that since, on chance assumption, the system information change cost is directly proportional to time, more costly pathways of achieving the same new functional goal will be, almost without exception, competed out by the less costly ones. As a corollary of the conservation law, the speciation law states that speciation follows the most economical way of growth of system information while conserving the existing one, which is horizontal information transfer by molecular sex (uptake of exogenous nucleic acid into the progeny genome) by exchange among two parents from maximally possible divergent lineages. The speciation law dictates that molecular sex mode be used since it is the most parsimonious one. The molecular sex cost in information bits is zero to the recipient, which is not the case with the generally accepted mode of vertical accumulation of information bits in a population gene pool within a lineage.

Contrary to previous belief, mutation frequency also depends on how essential a gene is. Mutation frequency is substantially lower in the coding regions of essential genes and higher in less essential genes. Even though the mutation bias based on gene essentiality is incapable of invalidating Darwinism, this bias certainly added a rather unsubtle obstacle to it by contradicting a paradigm that was widely held: that mutations are random in the sense of being independent of their function for the organism. The reason this bias occurs is currently unknown. Here, I present the theoretical solution of why genetic mutations also depend on whether the gene is more or less essential. My theory is that each gene or epigene has its own level of resistance to entropic elevation, something directly proportional to the frequency of its expression. The more a gene is expressed, the higher is its resistance to entropic elevation and vice versa. For genetic information to be conserved instead of suffering mutation, a relevant factor is also the frequency of its expression. The energy expenditure directed to a gene of current utility engenders resistance to entropic elevation of the information encoded in that gene, as energy enables not only the existence of information but also its conservation. My theory—which is based on fundamental physics and contains predictions that can be empirically tested—solves a crucial problem in evolutionary biology and genetics; if I am right, I will have established a biological law.

The current paper provides a cutting-edge information data length- theoretic approach to human emotions. This is a revolutionary breakthrough that unifies information data length and the dynamics of emotions. The significant impact of both time and its mean value associate on both the upper and lower bounds of the obtained information data length is observed and noted. The paper concludes with some challenging open problems, combined with concluding remarks and future research pathways.

We first of all define the arrow of time. Definition of the arrow of time will allow choosing different initial starting points. One of the issues we will also discuss is the interconnection be-tween the arrow of time, entropy and quantum information. Seth Lloyd in his 2001 work made a linkage between entropy, bits, and information via an axiomatic approach involving time in-tervals. Our take is a bit more general. We will discuss as well the t’Hooft’s statement as to in-itial conditions and times arrow, and how different cosmological models may influence initial conditions. Spoilers alert, if a nonsingular start to expansion existed, this would provide the most straightforward way to avoid a datum from classical relativity. That is, that in the actual equations of classical GR, there is no reason to have time asymmetry. Time asymmetry is built into initial conditions and we will detail several candidates. The first half of the paper brings up cosmology models and forming the arrow of time. The second is related to entropy itself and the problem of information. .

Entropic Dynamics (ED) is a framework in which Quantum Mechanics is derived as an application of entropic methods of inference. In ED the dynamics of the probability distribution is driven by entropy subject to constraints that are codified into a quantity later identified as the phase of the wave function. The central challenge is to specify how those constraints are themselves updated. In this paper we review and extend the ED framework in several directions. A new version of ED is introduced in which particles follow smooth differentiable Brownian trajectories (as opposed to non-differentiable Brownian paths). To construct the ED we make use of the fact that the space of probabilities and phases has a natural symplectic structure (i.e., it is a phase space with Hamiltonian flows and Poisson brackets). Then, using an argument based on information geometry, a metric structure is introduced. It is shown that the ED that preserves the symplectic and metric structures -- which is a Hamilton-Killing flow in phase space -- is the linear Schrödinger equation. These developments allow us to discuss why wave functions are complex and the connections between the superposition principle, the single-valuedness of wave functions, and the quantization of electric charges. Finally, it is observed that Hilbert spaces are not necessary ingredients in this construction. They are a clever but merely optional trick that turns out to be convenient for practical calculations.

Health information and communication are key elements that allow patients and family members to make decisions about end-of-life process and guarantee a death with dignity. Objective: To understand carers’ experiences regarding health information and communication during the illness and death of family members. Methods: This qualitative study was conducted in Andalusia based on the paradigm of hermeneutic phenomenology. Participants were carers who had accompanied a family member at the end of life for over 2 months and less than 2 years. Five nominal groups and 5 discussion groups were established, and 41 in-depth interviews with 123 participants were conducted. Atlas.ti 7.0 software was used to analyse the discourses. Results: Four dimensions of the dying process emerged: differences in carers’ perceptions of information and communication, a conspiracy of silence, consequences of the absence or presence of information, and the need for a culture change. Conclusions: Poor management of health information and communication at the end of life suffering and discomfort patients and their families. The culture of denying and avoiding death is still present today. A change in education about death would better enable health professionals to care for patients at the end of life.

Voronoi entropy for the random patterns and patterns demonstrating various elements of symmetry are calculated. The symmetric patterns are characterized by the values of the Voronoi entropy very close to those inherent to random ones. This contradicts the idea that the Voronoi entropy quantifies the ordering of the seed points, constituting the pattern. The extension of the Shannon-like formula embracing symmetric patterns is suggested. Analysis of Voronoi diagrams enables revealing of the elements of symmetry of the pattern.

Pregnancy at advanced maternal age is considered a risk factor for adverse maternal, fetal, and neonatal outcomes. Here we investigated whether maternal age could be associated with differences in the blood levels of newborn screening (NBS) markers for inborn metabolic disorders on the Recommended Universal Screening Panel (RUSP). Population-level NBS data from screen-negative singleton infants were examined, which included blood metabolic markers and covariates such as gestational age, birth weight, age at blood collection, infant sex, parent-reported ethnicity, and maternal age at delivery. Marker levels were compared between maternal age groups (age range: 15-44 years) using effect size analyses, which controlled for group size differences and potential confounding from other covariates. Our results showed that 13% of the markers had maternal age-related differences including newborn metabolites with either increased (C14, C16, C18, C18:1, C3DC) or decreased (C5OH) levels at advanced maternal age group (≥35 years, absolute Cohen’s d ≥ 0.2). The increased C3DC levels in this group correlated with a higher false-positive rate in newborn screening for malonic acidemia (p-value < 0.001), while no significant difference in screening performance was seen for other markers. Maternal age at delivery is associated with inborn metabolic differences and should be considered together with other clinical variables in genetic disease screening.

In the vaginal ecosystem there is a symbiotic relationship between the microbiota and the host, particularly Candida spp., which are considered commensals of the vaginal mucosa. During pregnancy there is an increase in hormonal secretion that alters the vaginal microbiota and favors the development of Candida infection. Several studies have shown the increased prevalence of Candida during pregnancy, as well as its association with perinatal complications and current clinical practice guidelines recommend fluconazole as the treatment of choice during pregnancy in case of infection by Candida albicans and non-albicans Candida. However, in the Mexican population, this association has not been studied. So in this study, an intentional search for colonization by Candida spp. in pregnant women who attended the obstetric triage of the Hospital Regional de Alta Especialidad de Ixtapaluca during the period from May to October 2019, and they were followed up until the end of the pregnancy. Data on age, number of pregnancies, gestational age, body mass index, and perinatal outcomes were analyzed. Of 83 patients included in the study, yeasts corre-sponding to C. albicans (12) and C. glabrata (4) were isolated in 16. In the group of patients with Candida, the maternal age range was from 15 to 36 years old, of which 7 were adolescents and 2 with advanced maternal age, with an average of 2 gestations, the range of body mass index was from 19.3 to 42.4, of which 4 were overweight and 7 obese. Perinatal complications were observed in three patients, one presented chorioamnionitis and in two the neonates were small for gestational age. No association was found between colonization by Candida spp. and the number of preg-nancies, gestational age, body mass index or perinatal results. However, it was found that age (adolescence) may be a risk factor for the development of vulvovaginitis during pregnancy.

In 2019, the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) estimated that prostate cancer (PC) was the 16th cause of death globally in males. In Mexico, PC epidemiology has been reported for a selected number of metrics and years, although without including the most up-to-date estimates. Herein, we describe and compare the burden and trends of PC in Mexico and its 32 states from 2000 to 2019. For this, we extracted online available data from the GBD 2019 to estimate the crude and age-standardized rate (ASR per 100,000 people) of incidence, mortality, and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). In Mexico, PC caused 27.1 thousand (95% uncertainty intervals, 20.6-36.0 thousand) incident cases, 9.2 thousand (7.7-12.7 thousand) deaths, and 161.5 thousand (122.7-219.5 thousand) DALYs in males of all ages in 2019. Among states, Sinaloa had the greatest ASR of incidence and Guerrero the highest values of deaths and DALYs. The burden of PC showed an increasing trend, although the magnitude of change differed between metrics and locations. We found both an increasing national trend and subnational variation in the burden of PC. Our results confirm the need for updated and timely estimates to design effective diagnostic and treatment campaigns in locations where the burden of PC is the highest.

The evolutionary theory of aging, particularly antagonistic pleiotropy (AP), provides an account of the ultimate origins of aging. What remains unclear is the nature of the proximate mechanisms by which AP gives rise to diseases of aging, like cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer’s disease. Damage-centric theories focusing on loss of genetic and cellular function have been proposed, as well as programmatic theories focusing on unwanted gene and cellular function. The latter include the hyperfunction and developmental theory that view aging as the futile continuation, or run-on, of growth and developmental programmes into later life. Yet neither type of theory has performed well in explaining late-life disease aetiology, particularly with respect to disease onset, presentation and progression. What is proposed here in this review is a new programmatic theory of aging. We argue that the emergence of many specific diseases may involve quasi-programmes that are not the result of run-on, but rather are triggered by other factors in late life. Such triggers may be non-programmatic (e.g. infection, mechanical injury) or programmatic. Moreover, the consequent pre-pathological and pathological changes may in some cases trigger further changes, leading to futile and destructive cascades of quasi-programmes and pathology. The origins of triggered quasi-programmes can be traced to biological constraint i.e. the inability of organisms to optimise all functions at once. And, to some extent, the new theory presented here revises the understanding of AP. That is, because any gene can be triggered in an erroneous manner, every gene is potentially an AP gene that risks pathology, though level of risk varies according to constraint. To help validate the theory, we test it against several complex diseases of aging. The new model in this review attempts to provide a blueprint understanding that, to a certain extent, closes the gap in the causal chain of events between evolutionary causes of aging and the aetiology of age-related diseases. It also helps to explain why certain disorders mimic accelerated aging and how interventions, such as the suppression of IIS and mTOR retard many aspects of aging; notably, though, unlike prior programmatic theories, the new theory is not mTOR-centric. Finally, it provides new perspectives on possible treatment of aging.

Partial Information Decompositions (PIDs) aim to categorize how a set of source variables provide information about a target variable redundantly, uniquely, or synergetically. The original proposal for such an analysis used a lattice-based approach and gained significant attention. However, finding a suitable underlying decomposition measure is still an open research question, even at an arbitrary number of discrete random variables. This work proposes a solution to this case with a non-negative PID that satisfies an inclusion-exclusion relation for any f-information measure. The decomposition is constructed from a pointwise perspective of the target variable to take advantage of the equivalence between the Blackwell and zonogon order in this setting. The zonogons correspond to the Neyman-Pearson region for an indicator variable of one target state and f-information is the expected value of quantifying its boundary. We prove that the decomposition satisfies the axioms of the original decomposition framework and guarantees non-negative partial information results. We highlight that our decomposition behaves differently depending on the used information measure, which can be utilized for different applications. We additionally show how our proposal can be used to obtain a non-negative decomposition of Rényi-information at a transformed inclusion-exclusion relation, and for tracing partial information flows through Markov chains.

The partial information decomposition (PID) framework is concerned with decomposing the information that a set of (two or more) random variables (the sources) has about another variable (the target) into three types of information: unique, redundant, and synergistic. Classical information theory alone does not provide a unique way to decompose information in this manner and additional assumptions have to be made. One often overlooked way to do this decomposition is using a so-called measure of union information – which quantifies the information that is present in at least one of the sources – from which a synergy measure stems. In this paper, we introduce a new measure of union information based on adopting a communication channel perspective, compare it with existing measures, and study some of its properties. We also include a comprehensive critical review of characterizations of union information and synergy measures that have been proposed in the literature.

Background The link between age at marriage and first birth in explaining completed family size is not always direct, due to heterogeneity in circumstances, that compel individual women to marry or initiate childbearing at a particular age. We analyzed data for 1020 women aged 45-49 in 2014 of the 1965-1969 birth cohort from the 2013-14 Zambia Demographic and Health Survey (ZDHS). Methods We fitted a bivariate and multivariate multinomial logistic regression to establish the relationship between a mother’s age at first marriage and at first birth on completed family size (CFS). Chi-square test of proportions measuring differences in proportions and relative risk ratios (RRR) with confidence intervals at 95% are reported. Results Our results show that the average CFS was 6.7 (95% CI: 6.5 – 6.9) among women completing their reproductive span in 2014 with mean age at first marriage and birth being 18.3 years (95% CI: 18.0 – 18.5) and 18.9 years (95% CI: 18.7 – 19.1) respectively. Women marrying at younger ages and having their first birth at younger ages were more likely (RRR: 1.187; 95% CI: 1.138-1.239 and RRR: 0.195; 95% CI: 0.074-0.511 respectively) to have higher CFS than their compatriots that initiated both marriage and childbearing at or after age 22 controlling for covariates as presented in the controlled model. The independent effects model shows that the risk of having 1-3 children compared to 6 or more children was lower (RRR: 0.073; 95% CI: 0.009-0.611; RRR: 0.136; 95% CI: 0,046-0.402 and RRR: 0.421; 05% CI: 0.135-1.312) for women whose ages at first marriage were <15, 15-18 and 19-21 respectively relative to 22+. Women with 1-3 children were 2.5 times more likely to use contraception than women with 6 or more children. Conclusion Having no education, being a rural resident and having a medium household wealth all increase the risk of having higher CFS. Women that marry before age 19 have a higher likelihood of having 6 or more children by the end of their reproductive period. The study concludes that apart from a woman’s age at first marriage and first birth, a complex network of factors interact to determined CFS.

One of the challenges of deploying Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) at large scale is to operate for prolonged periods of time relying on the limited amounts of energy stored in its nodes. Generally, data communication is the main factor of draining energy. Consequently, reducing the amount of transmitted data by the nodes is of great interest. At the same time, reducing data to be transmitted should not decrease the quality of the deduced information. Solving this problematic is what we call in this article "Ensuring the Quality of Information Service (QoIS)". This document provides a state-of-the-art for the QoIS regarding WSNs. At first, we give a quick overview of the Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm and the WSN technologies in order to understand how data is gathered and used in these networks. Also, we introduce a novel concept: QoIS, in contrast with classic QoS. Then, it is expected a summary of criteria that asses the QoIS in WSNs plus some techniques to improve it. In this article, we will focus on data management techniques. These techniques can improve raw data, information and/or knowledge quality in energy-constrained WSNs. Finally, we give some conclusions and a glimpse about our future work.

The current study characterizes the transient M/M/1 queue manifold info-geometrically, through devising Fisher Information matrix(FIM) and its inverse(IFIM). Additionally, the impact of stability on the existence of IFIM and explore the geodesic equations of motion has been revealed. More potentially, the paper discusses some info-geometric applications to Machine Learning are highlighted. Closing remarks with some challenging open problems combined with the next phase of research are given.

The partial information decomposition (PID) framework is concerned with decomposing the information that a set of random variables has with respect to a target variable into three types of components: redundant, synergistic, and unique. Classical information theory alone does not provide a unique way to decompose information in this manner and additional assumptions have to be made. Inspired by Kolchinsky's recent proposal for measures of intersection information, we introduce three new measures based on well-known partial orders between communication channels and study some of their properties.

The administration and management of urban transport has become an urgent need, in the context of the increasing congestion problems and the environmental and economic damage, resulting from rapid urban expansion witnessed by the Algerian cities in recent times, in order to achieve prosperity and quality of urban life. It became necessary to use the tools of modern technology, which administrative and technical departments are seeking to use primarily to support ways of decision-making and actions required. Boosted by high capabilities in the statistical data and other information is stored, and coordination and tabulation, with the possibility of installation and analysis by operations. Especially against the inability of traditional methods, which have become less able to cope with the changes that led to the urban dynamic currently experienced by urban communities in our country. This research aims to employ geographic information systems in the administration and management of the urban transport network, facing both the population and the local administration of the city of Batna. Which was chosen as a model for major Algerian cities, which is suffering more than ever of transportation bottlenecks, as well as the unintended damage for these networks and other networks. Hence the importance of the subject of our research, which aims to use GIS MapInfo systems as a means to snipe (Data Capture) and storage (Data Storage) and address (Data Processing) and directed by spatial information (Spatial Data) and link them to the descriptive information (Attribute Data). To develop a modern digital data and charts the base of each of these elements of the urban service lines equipment and mechanisms, ... etc. As a tool available to those creating and carrying out urban spaces, as well as decision-makers. It was concluded that the possibilities offered by this system would facilitate the processes of monitoring and management in order to ensure the quality of the service.

The construction industry in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is a significant sector in the Middle East, with annual expenditures exceeding USD 120 billion. It employs 15% of the work force and consumes more than 14% of the country’s energy resources. Despite the significant growth in the Saudi construction sector, it faces various challenges due to the rapid launch of mega projects such as NEOM and the Line project, as well as other new projects as part of the Saudi Vision 2030. Challenges might be limited to shortages of skilled labours, rising costs, construction disputes, and material shortages. This study aims to investigate the claims management procedures under traditional practice to be compared with a proposed BIM package as an alternative solution to mitigate construction disputes. The proposed BIM model improves and streamlines the claims process through automation. This study presents prospective and retrospective methods for delay analysis under an accepted program. A questionnaire survey was conducted, and out of a total of 123 practitioners, 79 replied. The findings reveal that 40% of the respondents acknowledged a growing awareness of BIM in the KSA construction industry. 47% agreed that BIM can help reduce potential disputes, and 33% strongly agreed that BIM can reduce overall project cost overruns.

Localizing the source of a signal is often as important as deciphering the signal’s message. Localization mechanisms must cope with the challenges of representing the spatial information of weak, noisy signals. Comparing these strategies across modalities and model systems allows a broader understanding of the general principles shaping spatial processing. In this review we focus on the electrosensory system of knifefish and provide an overview of our current understanding of spatial processing in this system, in particular, localization of conspecific signals. We argue that many mechanisms observed in other sensory systems, such as the visual or auditory systems, have comparable implementations in the electrosensory system. Our review therefore describes a field of research with unique opportunities to provide new insights into the principles underlying spatial processing.

A new approach is presented to defining the amount of information, in which information is understood as the data about a finite set as a whole, whereas the average length of an integrative code of elements serves as a measure of information. We obtain a formula for the syntropy of reflection, that is, the information that two intersecting finite sets reflect about each other. The specificities of reflection of discrete systems through the combination of their parts are considered, and it is shown that the additive syntropy and entropy of reflection are measures of structural order and chaos. Three information laws have been established: the law of conservation of the sum of chaos and order; information law of reflection; the law of conservation and transformation of information. An assessment of the structural organization and the level of development of discrete systems is presented. It is shown that various measures of information are structural characteristics of integrative codes of elements of discrete systems. The conclusion is made that, from the informational-genetic positions, the synergetic theory of information is primary in relation to the Hartley-Shannon information theory. In the appendix we consider the asymmetry of the mutual reflection of finite sets and the proportionality of arbitrary quantities.

This research aims to determine the influence of the independent commissioners, audit committee, institutional ownership, firm size and leverage against the integrity of the financial reporting information. This research is quantitative research with the causal approach. This study uses secondary data and panel data regression analysis method. The research results prove that audit committee, institutional ownership and leverage effect on the integrity of the financial reporting information. But it does not prove that the independent commissioner and firm size effect on the integrity of the financial reporting information.

This paper formulates the classic Monty Hall problem as a Bayesian game. Allowing Monty a small amount of freedom in his decisions facilitates a variety of solutions. The solution concept used is the Bayes Nash Equilibrium (BNE), and the set of BNE relies on Monty's motives and incentives. We endow Monty and the contestant with common prior probabilities (p) about the motives of Monty, and show that under certain conditions on p, the unique equilibrium is one where the contestant is indifferent between switching and not switching. This coincides and agrees with the typical responses and explanations by experimental subjects. Finally, we show that our formulation can explain the experimental results in Page (1998) [12]; that more people gradually choose switch as the number of doors in the problem increases.

Slave Province in Canada is an Archean granite-supracrustal terrane at the northwestern corner of the Canadian Shield. It is bordered by the Thelon–Taltson orogen (2.0 to 1.9 Ga) to the south-east and the Wopmay orogen (1.9 to 1.8 Ga) to the west. Acasta gneisses exposed in the western-most Slave province and the Wopmay rocks close to the gneisses were collected systematically for K-Ar and laser step-heating 40Ar /39Ar analyses of the biotite and amphibole. The K-Ar biotite ag-es of the four Wopmay samples range from 1816 ± 18 Ma to 1854 ± 26 Ma, which is within the reported U-Pb zircon age range of the Wopmay orogen. The K-Ar biotite ages of the fifteen Acasta gneisses range from 1779 ± 25 Ma to 1877 ± 26 Ma, except for a younger sample (1711 ± 25 Ma). The 40Ar/39Ar biotite analyses of the three samples from the Wopmay orogen give the plateau ages of 1826 ± 21 Ma, 1886 ± 13 Ma, and 1870 ± 18 Ma. On the other hand, the 40Ar/39Ar analyses of the biotite crystals from the Acasta gneiss show a variety of ages. Three samples show the plateau ages of 1877 ± 8 Ma, 1935 ± 14 Ma, and 1951 ± 11 Ma. These plateau ages are a little older than the total gas ages. The 40Ar/39Ar analyses of the amphibole crystals show more varied age rela-tions. The two samples show consistent age relations between the plateau ages (1814 ± 22 Ma and 1964 ± 12 Ma) and the total gas ages (1789 ± 23 Ma and 1967 ± 11 Ma), respectively. Some sam-ples have the apparent old age of 2000 Ma in the middle temperature fractions. These old frac-tions are due to that the originally existed amphibole crystals formed in Archean were affected by the thermal events during the Wopmay orogeny. but did not fully reset. The results suggest that the K-Ar system ages of the biotite and amphibole of the Archean Acasta gneiss that is aged from 4200 to 2600 Ma of zircon U-Pb ages were rejuvenated in the Paleo–Proterozoic ages. The heat source that rejuvenated the K-Ar system ages may have arisen due to the asthenospheric intrusion into the wedge mantle, which took place because of the subduction rollback.

This paper is referred to a top frontline research in life science, showing that in spite of the large variation of the physiological architecture and behavioral forms of the living systems, the fundamental structure of their informational system is basically the same, allowing the body growth/development by micro to macro-structuration processes, maintaining the same informational configuration and functions like the basic unit of life – the eukaryotic cell. Starting and based on the determination of the special/specific info-operability in living structures and the role of information in structuration and their functionality, there are discussed the informational functions of the eukaryotic/prokaryotic cells, the simplest units of life and is elaborated and presented the Informational Model of the Living Structures, showing that these structures operate on the basis of two main informational systems: one of them defined as the Programmed Informational System, composed by three components, assuring respectively the info-generation, maintenance and the proliferation/reproduction, and another one defined as the Operative Informational System, necessary for the continuous communication with the environment for adaptation, consisting in four main components referred to memory, decision, sentience and info-connection/info-selection. The revealed properties are compared with the Informational System of the Human Body, as a prototype of a living system on the top of the evolutionary scale, showing/demonstrating the compatibility of structuration and functions on the entire scale, from prokaryotic/eukaryotic unit cells to multicellular organisms – plants, animals and human, by means of a continuous adaptation process, which always follows the same line of micro to macro-structuration process based on the same Info-organization and functionality. These models are new and revolutionary in the information and life sciences

The philosophy of testing statistical hypothesis is a natural consequence and functional extension of mathematical analysis of Probability. Along with the concept of recurrence when applied to random sequences and functions, it leads to the analysis of a priori and posterior which implies testing statistical hypothesis. Testing statistical hypothesis also involves algebraic, functional and dimensional considerations, which are found in the works of Laplace. Aspects of mathematical analysis such as universality of solutions, Laws of Large Numbers, Entropy, Information, and various functional dependencies are the main factors explained in the five properties that lead to implication of testing statistical hypothesis. Various interesting examples with modern scientific significance from genetics, astrophysics, and other areas give methodological access to answers of different problems and phenomena which are involved in the logic of testing statistical hypothesis.

The Late Bronze Age on the territory of Southern Transurals is represented by two major archeological cultures: Srubnaya and Andronovskaya (Alakul culture and Fyodorovskaya – type). Their interaction of constitutes a special mix of material cultures which preserves common features of two independent, Srubnaya and Andronovskaya cultures, but also creates novel local material features. These cultural groups are also known to have brought to the region the technology of bronze production. This is evidenced, amongst others, by the proximity of the largest copper mining in the region, Kargaly mines Chernykh (2002). New methods to produce ceramics and to work bones were also developed, combining two traditions, coming from Srubnaya and Andronovskaya cultures respectively. Importantly, the features of these cultures are commonly encountered together in a single cultural horizon across the distribution ares. These diffusion processes took place in a vast area (more than 120,000 km²) andwere reflected in archeological micro-district of the Urshak river basin. We present here the most recent results of the scientific examination of the Late Bronze Age settlements in southern Transurals and attempt to address a peculiar cultural co-habitation of two distinct cultural groups in this region. We also discuss their synchronism based on absolute dates and elaborate on this cultural syncretism in the entire territory of the Volga-Ural region.

Information theory provides robust measures of multivariable interdependence, but classically does little to characterize the multivariable relationships it detects. The Partial Information Decomposition (PID) characterizes the mutual information between variables by decomposing it into unique, redundant, and synergistic components. This has been usefully applied, particularly in neuroscience, but there is currently no generally accepted method for its computation. Independently, the Information Delta framework characterizes non-pairwise dependencies in genetic datasets. This framework has developed an intuitive geometric interpretation for how discrete functions encode information, but lacks some important generalizations. This paper shows that the PID and Delta frameworks are largely equivalent. We equate their key expressions, allowing for results in one framework to apply towards open questions in the other. For example, we find that the approach of Bertschinger et al. is useful for the open Information Delta question of how to deal with linkage disequilibrium. We also show how PID solutions can be mapped onto the space of delta measures. Using Bertschinger et al. as an example solution, we identify a specific plane in delta-space on which this approach’s optimization is constrained, and compute it for all possible three-variable discrete functions of a three-letter alphabet. This yields a clear geometric picture of how a given solution decomposes information

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

Gedanken experiments illustrating exemplifications of the Landauer principle in the free falling Einstein elevator are treated. Double-well simplest information system embedded into the free falling elevator is addressed. Infinitesimal horizontal force applied to the particle m transfers it from position “0” to position “1”, emerging from the free falling double-well system confining mass m. When thermal noise is considered, the potential barrier of kBT should be surmounted for the erasing of one bit of information. Entropic forces arising in the free falling elevator are considered. The maximal change in the entropy of free-joint polymer chain attached to the free falling elevator is estimated as ΔSmax≅kB, and it is remarkably independent of the mass attached to the chain and the parameters of the chain itself. Free falling minimal Szilard engine is treated. The informational re-interpretation of the minimal Szilard process is shaped as follows: the energy kBTln2 necessary for erasing of 1 bit of information is spent for lifting up mass, whatever, is the value of this mass. Appropriate choice of frames enables elimination of gravity in the considered system; however elimination of the thermal noise (dissipation processes) by the same procedure is impossible.

Owing to the large ratio of consumption in the building sector, energy saving strategies are required. Energy feedback is an energy-saving strategy that consumers to change their energy-consumption behaviors. The strategy has been principally focused on providing energy-consumption information. However, realization of energy savings using only consumption information remains limited. In this paper, a building-energy three-dimensional (3D) visualization solution is thus proposed. This solution includes the process of diagnosing a building and providing prediction of energy requirements if a building improvement is undertaken. Accurate diagnostic information is provided by real-time measurement data from sensors and building models using a close-range photogrammetry (CRP) method without depending on blueprints. The information is provided by employing visualization effects to increase the energy-feedback efficiency. The proposed strategy is implemented on two testbeds, and building diagnostics are performed accordingly. For the first testbed, the predicted energy improvement amount resulting from the facility upgrade is provided. The second testbed is provided with a 3D visualization of the energy information. The aim is to determine if the building manager will replace the facility after our recommendation is given to improve the building energy efficiency driven from the energy information. Unlike existing systems, which provide only ambiguous data that lack quantitative information, this study is meaningful because it provides energy information with the aid of visualization effects before and after building improvements.

Telemedicine is the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for clinical health care from a distance. The exchange of radiographic images and electronic patient health information/records (ePHI/R) for diagnostic purposes has the risk of confidentiality, ownership identity, and authenticity. In this paper, a data hiding technique for ePHI/R is proposed. The color information in the cover image is used for key generation, and stego-images are produced with ideal case. As a result, the whole stego-system is perfectly secure. This method includes the features of watermarking and steganography techniques. The method is applied to radiographic images. For the radiographic images, this method resembles watermarking, which is an ePHI/R data system. Experiments show promising results for the application of this method to radiographic images in ePHI/R for both transmission and storage purpose.

In spite of its remarkable characteristics, consciousness cannot be considered in splendid isolation. It is only one of the remarkable phenomena associated with the brain, the brain is just one of the organs in the body, and computers and brains share many characteristics as information-based systems. On the basis of the ubiquitous hierarchical organization of reality into stacked layers, and the particular importance of strong emergence in living systems, this article argues that the brain must also employ such methods to achieve its advanced functions. This is in line with the prop-osition of Integrated Information Theory (IIT) that consciousness requires a high degree of causal integration in its physical substrate. However, such emergence is also shown to underlie infor-mation processing in computers and the non-conscious functions of the brain. It is also demon-strated that both computers and brains exploit a specific type of information that is correlated to but not synonymous with states and mechanisms in the physical substrate. Emergent Information Theory (EIT) therefore presents consciousness as one member of a large and diverse family of non-physical but real forms of emergent information created by specific types of designed and evolved systems.

This report is on online banking and information systems in online banking. It throws some light on the introduction and historical background of online banking. Next, in this term report online banking information is explained in detailed. We collected a few articles, related to internet banking, on which other researchers have worked. Then further we have brief them into a table where we have mentioned their problems and limitations. Next, we discussed them in detail, giving an overview of each article. Lastly, recommendations for the online banking sectors are also mentioned.

During 2010, at the Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (fmvz-unam) we analyzed the influence of metadata over its website according to the search engines used by the academic community. This document serves only the second specific objective of the research: to know the academic profile, the informative behavior and the veterinary information needs of the academic community of the fmvz-unam. The methodological tool was the design and implementation of an online survey. We received 215 responses, two thirds answered academic staff, the rest, undergraduate and postgraduate students. In relation to information behavior, an Internet-usage index was developed, with which it was determined that 64 % of this community uses four or five information services on the Internet, This means that the network is widely used to seek information and as communication media. This community search for more veterinary information related to dogs, dairy cattle and sheep, compared to other animal species; while animal welfare, zoonosis and molecular biology are the topics of greatest interest.

The recent availability of commercial platforms for behavioral analysis in zebrafish larvae based on video-tracking technologies has exponentially increased the number of studies analyzing different behaviors in this model organism to assess neurotoxicity. Among the most commonly used assays in zebrafish larvae are basal locomotor activity (BLA) and visual motor response (VMR). However, the effect of different intrinsic and extrinsic factors that can significantly alter the outcome of these assays is still not well understood. In this work we have analyzed in 143 larvae the influence of age (5-8 days post-fertilization), time of day (8:00, 10:00, 12:00, 14:00; 16:00, 18:00, and 20:00 h), and experiment (three experiments performed at different days) on BLA and VMR results (4,004 analyses for each behavior). Results from both behaviors were adjusted to a Random-Effects linear regression model using generalized least squares (GLS), including in the model the effect of the three variables, the second-way interactions between them and the three-way interaction. The results presented in this manuscript show a specific effect of all three intrinsic factors and their interactions on both behaviors, supporting the view that the most stable time period for performing these behavioral assays is from 10:00 am to 04:00 pm, with some differences depending on age of the larva and the behavioral test.

Since 2020 COVID-19 has caused serious mortality around the world. Given the ambiguity in es-tablishing COVID-19 as the direct cause of death we first investigate the effects of age and sex upon all-cause mortality during 2020 and 2021 in England and Wales. Since infectious agents have their own unique age profile for death, we explore several methods to adjust single year of age deaths in England and Wales during 2019 (the pre-COVID-19 base year) to a pathogen-neutral single year of age baseline. This adjusted base year is then used to confirm the widely reported higher deaths in males for most ages above 43 years in both 2020 and 2021. During 2020 (+ COVID-19 but no vac-cination) both male and female population-adjusted deaths were significantly increased above age 35. A significant reduction in all-cause mortality among both males and females aged 75+ could be demonstrated in 2021 during widespread COVID–19 vaccination, however, below age 75 deaths progressively increased. This finding arises from a mix of vaccination and year of age profiles of deaths for the different SARS-CoV-2 variants. In addition, specific effects for age around puberty were demonstrated where females had higher deaths rather than males. There is evidence that year-of-birth cohorts may also be involved, indicating that immune priming to specific pathogen outbreaks in the past may lead to lower deaths for some birth cohorts. To specifically identify the age profile for the COVID-19 variants in 2020 to 2023, we employ the proportion of total deaths at each age which are potentially due to or ‘with’ COVID-19. The original Wuhan strain, and the Alpha variant show somewhat limited divergence in the age profile with the Alpha variant shifted to a moderately higher proportion of deaths below age 84. The Delta variant specifically targeted persons below age 65. The Omicron variants showed significantly lower proportion of overall mortality, with markedly higher relative proportion of deaths above age 65 steeply increasing with age to a maximum around 100 years of age. A similar age profile for the variants can be seen in the age-banded deaths in US states – although slightly obscured by using age bands rather than single year of age. However, the US data shows that higher male deaths are greatly dependent on age and the COVID-variant. Deaths determined as ‘due to’ COVID-19 (as opposed to ‘involving’ COVID-19) in England and Wales were especially over-estimated in 2021 relative to the change in all-cause mortality. This arose as a by-product of an increase in COVID-19 testing capacity in late 2020. Potential structure-function mechanisms for the year of age specificity of SARS-CoV-2 var-iants are discussed. The question is posed as to whether vaccines based on different variants carry the specific age profile through into the vaccine.

Child and adolescent sexual abuse (CSA) is an international public health problem. Despite the importance of the CSA, there is no consensus definition, and the lack of consensus is related to difficulties in conducting prevalence studies, as well as research in other areas. To establish a consensual definition, legal aspects such as the age of sexual consent and the difference in age or power between victim and aggressor, aspects related to sexual freedom and sexual indemnity must be considered. Therefore, the main goal of this research was to analyze the age of sexual consent in the legal systems of Spanish-speaking countries and to examine whether the Romeo and Juliet clause is established. To achieve the proposed aims, we employed the legal interpretation method, and we analyzed the current Criminal Codes of the 21 Spanish-speaking countries. From the results, it is found that the age of sexual consent varies between countries, establishing valid sexual consent between 13 and 18 years. In addition, only six countries have the Romeo and Juliet clause that protects sexual freedom in adolescents. Finally, we discussed the lack of consensus on the age of sexual consent and the limitations presented by the Romeo and Juliet clause.

Construction Design Management (DM) involves the coordination of design process and activity to ensure quality project design, yet it involves many challenges. This work reports on a collaborative Knowledge Transfer Project (KTP) that tackled several challenges faced by construction design management practitioners. Employing a design science research methodology (DSRM), qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews with purposively identified design managers first uncovered real world concerns around design coordination, and designer performance monitoring. Then to address these concerns, a web-based design management prototype dashboard was developed which uses typical project data to aid the management of design coordination activity and facilitate design management task prioritization and reporting functionalities. By digitalizing selected design management processes to improve efficiency, and productivity, the visual reporting capability of the dashboard enables design production to be monitored at project and portfolio levels; trends in designer performance to be assessed and focus to be retained on technical queries (TQs) and requests for information (RFIs). By reporting on the development of this web-based Design Management prototype dashboard and illustrating how it can enhance design management productivity in construction firms, this work also provides further evidence of how employing a design science research methodology in construction can produce practical solutions that address real world construction concerns.

Osteoporotic vertebral fracture is the most common fracture from osteoporosis, and are largely undiagnosed due to the mostly asymptomatic nature of the condition. It increases the risk of subsequent fractures and contributes to societal burden. Risk factors for osteoporotic fractures are found in the WHO fracture risk assessment model and used as a tool for monitoring bone health. Vertebral fractures are diagnosed from anteroposterior and lateral spine radiographs and are confirmed with an approximate loss of 20% vertebral height as compared to adjacent vertebrae. One of the most used grading for vertebral fractures is the SQ grading. Mild vertebral fractures could easily be misdiagnosed due to some peculiarities of the vertebral column. CT scan is useful for planning surgical intervention while an MRI scan can provide information about the recency of the fracture and rule out cancer-related fractures. Management depends on the severity of the fracture which could range from conservative management to surgical vertebral augmentation and decompression. Bisphosphonates are used to treat osteoporosis in acute and long-term management of fractures. Osteoimmunological therapies such as denosumab and romosozumab are new therapeutic interventions for osteoporosis while there are many other potential treatment options. Precision medicine provides an individualized treatment approach while regenerative medicine utilizes mesenchymal stem cells for fracture repair.

Objectives: Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels play an important role in the diagnosis, screening, and monitoring of treatment in diabetes. The aim of our study is to determine whether there is a relationship between HbA1c levels and age and gender in Turkish adults who have not been diagnosed with diabetes.Materials and Methods: This retrospective study included 6776 Turkish adults without diabetes. Cross-sectional analyzes of A1C levels were performed between different age and gender categories. In statistical analysis, t-test, linear regression analysis, one-way ANOVA analysis, and LSD post hoc were used.Results: HbA1c levels in the individuals examined by dividing into different age groups increased with age in all groups. In our study, HbA1c levels were significantly higher in males than females (p < 0.001) in all groups, especially between the ages of 30-49, and were positively associated with age for males and females. There was a positive correlation between HbA1c and age in both men and women aged 30-49 years (P < 0.05). In the HbA1c ≥ 6.5 group, HbA1c levels gradually decreased with age in both genders, and no significant effect of age on Hb1Ac level was detected (p > 0.05). Conclusion: Our results showed that it is important to evaluate the effects of age and gender when using HbA1c levels in the diagnosis, screening, and treatment of diabetes, especially in the young and middle-aged population. Applying this situation to daily practice may reduce the misdiagnosis of diabetes in elderly patients, overtreatment of diabetes, and its associated risks.K

There are several causes of hypoxia during and after surgery, and atelectasis is a common symptom that occurs during surgery. In particular, elderly patients are more vulnerable to hypoxia due to their existing lung diseases or respiratory muscle weakness. This study presents the cases of two elderly patients who developed hypoxia during total hip arthroplasty under general anesthesia. Positive end expiratory pressure, recruitment maneuver, and increased fraction of inspired oxygen improved hypoxia only temporarily, and patients’ oxygen saturation level again dropped to 79%–80%. We suspected that hypoxia was caused by atelectasis and, therefore, re-sumed spontaneous respiration. Thereafter, both the patients showed an improvement in hypoxia. Intraopera-tive hypoxia that is suspected to be caused by atelectasis can be improved by securing sufficient lung volume for respiration through increased muscle tone with spontaneous respiration

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the antibody responses in two adult age groups after diphtheria vaccination. Study Design: An observational analytic study was carried out to determine the difference in serum titer of anti-diphtheria antibody. Methods: Serum antibody titers were measured just before and 3 months after injection of Diphtheria toxoid vaccine. Vaccine was given to two adult age groups of health care personnel in hospital: the young (< 40 years) and the middle-aged (≥ 40 years). Data were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney test (p < 0.05). Results: Significant increase in serum anti-diphtheria antibody titers were recorded after vaccination in both age group (p < 0.001 in young adult and p = 0.001 in middle-aged adult, respectively). There were no substantial differences between the two groups in terms of antibody titer before vaccination (p = 0.741), 3 months after vaccination (p = 0.317) and in the increase of antibody titer (p = 0.479). Conclusions: This study showed that there was no significant difference in the increase of anti-diphtheria antibody titers between the two age groups, proving that both young and middle-aged adults had an equal immune response to a given diphtheria vaccine.

Glioma accounts for 80% of all malignant brain tumors and is the most common adult primary brain tumor. Age is an important factor affecting the development of cancer as somatic mutations accumulate with age. In this study, we aimed to analyze the significance of age-related non-silent somatic mutations in glioma prognosis. Histological tumor grade depends on age at diagnosis in patients with IDH1, TP53, ATRX, and EGFR mutations. The hierarchical clustering of patients was dominantly separated by IDH1 and EGFR mutations. Furthermore, patients with IDH1 mutation were dominantly separated by TP53 and ATRX double mutation and its double wildtype counterpart. Patients with the double mutation showed poorer prognosis than those with the double wild type genotype. In conclusion, among the many somatic mutations, those in IDH1, TP53, ATRX, and EGFR are important for glioma classification based on histological grade. Patients with EGFR mutation had the poorest prognosis, whereas those with only IDH1 mutation showed the best prognosis.

Background: The passage through university, as a complex experience, can heighten personal susceptibility to eating disorders. The objective of this research is to determine how gender, age, year of course, and center or faculty can influence the risk of an eating disorder among university students. Method: A transversal and descriptive study with a probabilistic sample of 516 Spanish students from 26 university degrees is performed, by administering the Inventory Eating Disorder-Reference criterion (EDI-3-RF) to the students. Results: It was found that the female students enrolled in second-year grades presented a greater obsession with thinness and body dissatisfaction, that the male students did more physical exercise to control their weight, and that those under 20 years and the students from both the Health and Law Faculties presented greater bulimic behavior. Conclusions: It is necessary to implement preventive measures adapted to the university students.

Students are often portrayed as future leaders. Their participation in climate change mitigation would improve when they access climate information and gain a high level of climate change awareness. This study was initiated to assess the Congolese students’ awareness of climate change by focusing on their sources of information on climate change, knowledge about the causes and impacts of climate change and activities that can raise awareness on climate change. Using a convenience sampling technique, we collected data through individual interviews conducted among 1,278 students from 13 universities across the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The interview results showed that all students irrespective of their disciplines were concerned about climate change, a phenomenon strongly driven by human activities, such as deforestation (78%), urbanisation (30%), agriculture activities (30%) and transport services (26%). The students’ perceptions of climate change impacts included increase in temperature (82%), decrease in the number of rainy days (66%), proliferation of pests (60%) and increase in the number of malaria patients (39%). The primary sources of information that significantly affected students’ awareness of climate change included environment-related university courses and television broadcasts. The awareness-raising and mitigation actions related to climate change recommended by the students included educating people about good waste management (56%), planting trees (65%) and using the taxes paid by mining companies for the restoration of degraded ecosystems. The students believed that in DRC, all layers of the society (educational institutions, civil society organisations, community members and businesses) are important in building resilience to climate change. This study can guide teachers to focus their educational efforts on shaping pro-environmental behaviour in students.

The violation of Bell's theorem is a very simple way to see that there is no underlying classical interpretation of quantum mechanics. The measurements made on the photons shows that light signal (information) could travel between them, hence completely eliminating any chance that the result was due to anything other than entanglement. Entanglement has been studied extensively for understanding the mysteries of non-classical correlations between quantum systems. It was found that violation of Bell's inequalities could be trivially calculated and for sets of nonmaximally entangled states of two qubits, comparing these entanglement measures may lead to different entanglement orderings of the states. On the other hand, although it is not an entanglement measure and not monotonic under local operations, due to its ability of detecting multipartite entanglement, quantum Fisher information (QFI) has recently received an intense attraction generally with entanglement in the focus. In this work, we visit violation of Bell's inequalities problem with a different approach. Generating a thousand random quantum states and performing an optimization based on local general rotations of each qubit, we calculate the maximal QFI for each state. We analyze the maximized QFI in comparison with violation in Bell's inequalities and we make similar comparison of this violation with commonly studied entanglement measures, negativity and relative entropy of entanglement. We show that there are interesting orderings for system states.

The relationship between physics and information processing is a topic of great significance in the realm of science and technology. The laws of physics, which govern the behavior of matter and energy, also have a profound influence on the way information is processed and utilized. While the mathematics governing information processing has not extensively utilized the laws of physics, it is evident that there is potential for these laws to play a more significant role, particularly in the context of quantum systems. based on the equivalence between information and energy, we can explore how other laws of physics can effectively contribute to more efficient and advanced information processing techniques. This research sheds light on the interconnectedness of physics and information processing, and its findings have the potential to significantly enhance our ability to process information, particularly in cutting-edge quantum systems. By recognizing and leveraging the influence of physics, we can pave the way for further advancements in information processing technologies.

From physics to the social sciences, information is now seen as a fundamental component of reality. However, a form of information seems still underestimated, perhaps precisely because it is so pervasive that we take it for granted: the information encoded in the very environment we live in. We still do not fully understand how information takes the form of cities, and how our minds deal with it in order to learn about the world, make daily decisions, and take part in the complex system of interactions we create as we live together. This paper addresses three related problems that need to be solved if we are to understand the role of environmental information: (1) the physical problem: how can we preserve information in the built environment? (2) The semantic problem: how do we make environmental information meaningful? And (3) the pragmatic problem: how do we enact environmental information in our daily lives? Attempting to devise a solution to these problems, we introduce a three-layered model of information in cities, namely environmental information in physical space, environmental information in semantic space, and the information enacted by interacting agents. We propose forms of calculating entropy in these different layers, and apply these measures to archetypal urban cases and simulated scenarios. Our results suggest that ordered spatial structures and diverse land use patterns encode information, and that aspects of physical and semantic information affect coordination in interaction systems.

The storage of biochemical information, which is a prerequisite for the development of the first cell, is an unsolved problem affecting all concepts of the origin of life. However, if the protected environment in the continental crust is taken into account, completely new possibilities emerge for identifying processes that may have been crucial for the formation of the first cell. Under this background, we can hypothesize that cellular life began, with a self-sustaining cycle of molecular reaction steps and information storage of peptide sequences in RNA in a crustal depth of approximately 1000 m. This cycle was made possible in an open system bound to gas-permeable tectonic fracture zones with a high proportion of CO₂ and/or N₂. It can be assumed that a large number of RNA-like molecular strands formed in the crustal environment, from which a special RNA was selected by flotation processes, which formed the basis of a proto-tRNA. The formation of peptides and vesicles in supercritical CO₂ and the chemical evolution of peptides have already been proven at conditions of the upper continental crust. The behavior of individual amino acids in connection with vesicle formation deserves special interest. Hydrophobic amino acids accumulate in the vesicle membrane, with their position in the membrane depending on the degree of hydrophobicity. Selection of a proto-tRNA with an acceptor arm ending with the bases CCA resulted in a distinctive property. The position of adenine at the tip of the acceptor arm permitted it to penetrate the membrane, allowing it to be linked to an amino acid at the 3'-OH position of the terminal ribose. The penetration depth was controlled by the hydrophobicity of the opposite anti-codon, with adenine always occupying the middle position for the hydrothermally formed hydrophobic amino acids. When the vesicle membrane was closely occupied by proto-tRNAs, the anti-codons acted as templates and stored the sequence of the peptides that form. In the cases of hydrophilic anti-codons, the acceptor arm does not reach far enough into the membrane. This allowed hydrophilic amino acids to be linked to 2´-OH.

AbstractBackground: Maternal health service (MHS) use is a key strategy to reduce maternal mortality. However, the existing evidence is scarce to design efficient intervention strategies in Ethiopia. Thus, we aimed to explore community members and health care providers' perceptions of MHS, and barriers, and facilitators of MHS use in southern Ethiopia. Methods: A phenomenological qualitative study was conducted from November 14-30, 2022, in the northern zone of the Sidama region. Sixteen in-depth interviews, nine focus group discussions, and 15 key informant interviews were done with 112 study participants. A maximum variance sampling method was used to select study participants. Data coding and analysis were done using MAXQAD 2020 software and presented in narratives. Results: Communities have positive perceptions and good practices of skilled antenatal care (ANC) and health facility delivery (HFD), but lack awareness of postnatal care (PNC) services and schedules. Some have experienced negative interactions with health care providers, health facilities, and ambulance drivers. The main identified barriers to ANC use were lack of awareness of ANC benefits, distance from a health facility, costs associated with ANC use, long waiting time, lack of access to road, and women being busy with different household chores. Distance from health facility, costs associated with HFD use, unpredicted labour, lack of an ANC visit, lack of a birth preparedness plan, and non-dignified care were the main barriers to HFD. The major identified barriers to PNC use were home delivery, lack of awareness of PNC service and schedule, and socio-cultural beliefs. The main identified facilitators of MHS use were previous experience and fear of obstetric complications, health extension workers and women’s development teams, and pregnant women's forum.Conclusions: Rural women still encounter several challenges when using MHS, even though communities have positive perceptions and good practices of skilled MHS. Bad experiences mothers faced in health facilities, challenges associated with the costs of MHS use, poor awareness of service, and unpredictable labour continued to be basic barriers to MHS use. Intervention approaches should consider inter-sectoral collaboration to address barriers at the community and health facility levels. The programs must emphasize the transportation arrangements during unpredictable labour, the needs of poor mothers, and women who have poor awareness of MHS at the community level.

Poor understanding of malnutrition burden is a common reason for not prioritizing the care of small and nutritionally at-risk infants aged under-six months (infants u6m). We aimed to estimate the anthropometric deficit prevalence in infants u6m attending health centres, using the Composite Index of Anthropometric Failure (CIAF); and to assess the overlap of different individual indicators. We undertook a two-week survey of all infants u6m visiting each of 18 health centres in two zones of the Oromia region, Ethiopia. We measured weight, length, and MUAC (Mid upper arm circumference); and calculated weight-for-length (WLZ), length-for-age (LAZ), and weight-for-age z-scores (WAZ). Overall, 21.7% (95% CI: 19.2; 24.3) of infants u6m presented CIAF and of these, 10.7% (95% CI: 8.93; 12.7) had multiple anthropometric deficits. Low MUAC overlapped with 47.5% (95% CI: 38.0; 57.3), 43.8% (95% CI: 34.9; 53.1), and 42.6% (95% CI: 36.3; 49.2) of the stunted, wasted and CIAF prevalence, respectively. Underweight overlapped with 63.4% (95% CI: 53.6; 72.2), 52.7% (95% CI: 43.4; 61.7), and 59.6% (95% CI: 53.1; 65.9) of the stunted, wasted and CIAF prevalence, respectively. Anthropometric deficits, single and multiple, are prevalent in infants attending health centres. WAZ overlaps more with other forms of anthropometric deficits than MUAC.

Arabic was the language of philosophy, logic, Islamic sciences and rhetorical linguistic sciences. It was used in the writing of all sciences generally and became the language of world culture. Although the other languages of the Islamic world had a little share, but all peoples of Islamic countries; Arabs and non-Arabs, Muslims and non-Muslims attributed to that movement appreciated. Hence, Arab sciences flourished in their bright ages. Arabic language was a cultural container of the ancient Greek and Latin intellectual heritage. As the ancient Greek and Latin sciences and literatures were translated into Arabic in the bright ages of Islam. Arab language was a strong bond for them, as a common human heritage for the centuries to save it from being lost, as Muslims used it to develop their sciences and arts, as Muslims in the East used the Western sciences and literatures in the modern age, because they are not Eastern or Western, but the common efforts of all humanity. Arabic language opened for the dictionaries ​​and other tongues of cross-fertilization, civil friction and simulation. Arabic had become the language of sciences: mathematics, astronomy, engineering, logic, philosophy, mysticism, agriculture, industry and economics by the continuous efforts of scientists in their scientific research, invention, experimentation, knowledge collection and classification in various fields, where orientalists recognized the Arab leadership. That scientific and literary civilization moved to Europe through Italy, Andalusia, Crusades and the Ottoman Caliphate. Europeans learned Arabic language, literature and sciences in the centers of Toledo, Fez and cities of Maghreb.

The Late Heavy Bombardment Period (4.1 to 3.8 billion years ago) of heightened impact cratering activity on young Earth is likely the driving force for the origin of life. During the Eoarchean, asteroids such as carbonaceous chondrites delivered the building blocks of life and water to early Earth. Asteroid collisions created innumerable hydrothermal crater lakes in the Eoarchean crust which inadvertently became the perfect cradle for prebiotic chemistry. These hydrothermal crater lakes were filled with cosmic water and the building blocks of life. forming a thick prebiotic soup. The unique combination of exogenous delivery of extraterrestrial building blocks of life, and the endogenous biosynthesis in hydrothermal impact crater lakes very likely gave rise to life. A new symbiotic model for the origin of life within the hydrothermal crater lakes is here proposed. In this scenario, life arose around four billion years ago through five hierarchical stages of increasing molecular complexity: cosmic, geologic, chemical, information, and biological. During the prebiotic synthesis, membranes first appeared in the hydrothermal crater lakes, followed by the simultaneous origin of RNA and protein molecules, creating the RNA/protein world. These proteins were noncoded protein enzymes that facilitated chemical reactions. RNA molecules formed in the hydrothermal crater basin by polymerization of the nucleotides on the montmorillonite mineral substrate. Similarly, the initial synthesis of abiotic protein enzymes was mediated by the condensation of amino acids on pyrite surfaces. The regular wet-dry cycles within the crater lakes assisted further concentration, condensation, and polymerization of the RNAs and proteins. Lipid membranes randomly encapsulated amino acids, RNA, and protein molecules from the prebiotic soup to initiate a molecular symbiosis inside the protocells, this led to the hierarchical emergence of several cell components. As the role of protein enzymes became essential for catalytic process in the RNA/protein world, Darwinian selection from noncoded to coded protein synthesis led to translation systems and the genetic code, heralding the information stage. In this stage, the biochemical pathways suggest the successive emergence of translation machineries such as tRNAs, aaRS, mRNAs, and of ribosomes for protein synthesis. The molecular attraction between tRNA and amino acid led to the emergence of translation machinery and the genetic code. tRNA is an ancient molecule that created mRNA for the purpose of storing amino acid information like a digital strip. Each mRNA strand became the storage device for genetic information that encoded the amino acid sequences in triplet nucleotides. As information became available in the digital languages of the codon within mRNA, biosynthesis became less random and more organized and directional. The original translation machinery was simpler before the emergence of the ribosome than that of today. We review three main concepts on the origin and evolution of the genetic code: the stereochemical theory, the coevolution theory, and adaptive theory. We believe that these three theories are not mutually exclusive, but are compatible with our coevolution model of translations machines and the genetic code. We suggest biosynthetic pathways as the origin of the translation machine that provided the framework for the origin of the genetic code. During translation, the genetic code developed in three stages coincident with the refinement of the translation machinery: GNC code with four codons and four amino acids during interactions of pre-tRNA/pre-aaRS /pre-mRNA, SNS code consisting of 16 codons and 10 amino acids appeared during the tRNA/aaRS/mRNA interaction, and finally the universal genetic code evolved with the emergence of the tRNA/aaRS/mRNA/ribosome machine. The universal code consists of 64 codons and 20 amino acids, with a redundancy that minimizes errors in translation. To address the question of the origin of the biological information system in the RNA/protein world, we converted letter codons into numerical codons in the Universal Genetic Code Table. We developed a software called CATI (Codon-Amino Acid-Translator-Imitator) to translate randomly chosen numerical codons into corresponding amino acids and vice versa, gaining insight into how translation might have worked in the RNA/protein world. We simulated the likely biochemical pathways for the origin of translation and the genetic code using the Model-View-Controller (MVC) software framework, and the translation machinery step-by-step. We used AnyLogic software to simulate and visualize the evolution of the translation machines and the genetic code. We conclude that the emergence of the information age from the RNA/protein world was a watershed event in the origin of life about four billion years ago.

Abstract: It has been shown that three-dimensional self-assembled multicellular structures derived from human pluripotent stem cells show electrical activity similar to EEG. More recently, neurons were successfully embedded in a digital game-worlds (Kagan, et al. 2022). The biologically inspired neural network (BNN), expressing human cortical cells, was able to show internal modification and learn the task at hand (predicting the trajectory of a digital ball while moving a digital paddle). In other words, the system allowed to read motor information and write sensory data into cell cultures. In this article, we discuss Neural Correlates of Consciousness (NCC) theories, and their capacity to predict or even allow for consciousness in a BNN. We found that In-formation Integration Theory (IIT) is the only NCC that offers the possibility for a BNN to show consciousness. IIT argues that any system capable of integrating information will have some degree of phenomenal consciousness. The pattern of activity appearing in the BNN, with increased density of sensory information leading to better performance, implies that the BNN could be conscious. This may have profound implications from a physiological, philosophical, and ethical perspective.

Climate change complies firms to introduce various measures to enhance both their competitiveness and sustainability, particularly energy efficiency measures (EEMs). Energy efficiency is particularly important in energy-intensive sectors such as the industrial sector. However, EEMs within the industrial firms are hindered by several internal barriers such as competing interests within firms, the lack of information regarding energy efficiency opportunities, and the low technical competence. In this regard, energy audit aims to improve energy efficiency in facilities and to tackle internal barriers to energy efficiency. We construct a model which aims to explore the importance of energy audit in implementing EEMs and reducing the intensity of internal barriers to energy efficiency. Our research model was empirically tested through survey data gathered from 193 industrial firms in Morocco. Results show that competing interests, the lack of information and the low technical competence hinder the adoption of EEMs within industrial firms. In addition, energy audits enhance EEMs, and mitigate the negative effect of the lack of information and the low technical competence on the adoption of EEMs. However, energy audits do not attenuate the negative effect of competing interests on EEMs. This study reinforces previous studies with additional confirmation regarding the importance of energy audits for tackling the lack of information, and the low technical competence within firms. Furthermore, our study extends prior research as we found that energy audits do not reduce the intensity of competing interests within firms regarding EMMs’ implementation.

We introduce and investigate a simple and explicitly mechanical model of Maxwell's demon -- a device that interacts with a memory register (a stream of bits), a thermal reservoir (an ideal gas) and a work reservoir (a mass that can be lifted or lowered). Our device is similar to one that we have briefly described elsewhere [1], but it has the additional feature that it can be programmed to recognize a chosen reference sequence, for instance, the binary representation of $\pi$. If the bits in the memory register match those of the reference sequence, then the device extracts heat from the thermal reservoir and converts it into work to lift a small mass. Conversely, the device can operate as a generalized Landauer's eraser (or copier), harnessing the energy of a dropping mass to write the chosen reference sequence onto the memory register, replacing whatever information may previously have been stored there. Our model can be interpreted either as a machine that autonomously performs a conversion between information and energy, or else as a feedback-controlled device that is operated by an external agent. We derive generalized second laws of thermodynamics for both pictures. We illustrate our model with numerical simulations, as well as analytical calculations in a particular, exactly solvable limit.

Building information modeling (BIM) is the digital representation of physical and functional characteristics (such as geometry, spatial relationship, and geographic information) of a facility to support decisions during its life cycle. BIM has been extended beyond 3D geometrical representations in recent years, and now includes time as a fourth dimension and cost as a fifth dimension, as well as such other applications as virtual reality and augmented reality. The Internet of Things (IoT) has been increasingly applied in various products (smart homes, wearables) to enhance work productivity, living comfort, and entertainment. However, research addressing the integration of these two technologies (BIM and IoT) is still very limited, and has focused exclusively on the automatic transmission of sensor information to BIM models. This paper describes an attempt to represent and visualize sensor data in BIM with multiple perspectives in order to support complex decisions requiring interdisciplinary information. The study uses a university campus as an example and includes several scenarios, such as an auditorium with a dispersed audience and energy saving options for rooms with different functions (mechanical/electric equipment, classrooms, and laboratory). This paper also discusses the design of a common platform allowing communication among sensors with different protocols (Arduino, Raspberry Pi), the use of Dynamo to accept sensor data as input and automatically redraw visualized information in BIM, and how visualization may help in making energy-saving management decisions.

The bottleneck in creating dynamic models of biological networks and processes often lies in estimating unknown kinetic model parameters from experimental data. In this regard, experimental conditions have a strong influence on parameter identifiability and should therefore be optimized to give the maximum information for parameter estimation. Existing model-based design of experiment (MBDOE) methods commonly rely on the Fisher Information Matrix (FIM) for defining a metric of data informativeness. When the model behavior is highly nonlinear, FIM-based criteria may lead to suboptimal designs since the FIM only accounts for the linear variation of the model outputs with respect to the parameters. In this work, we developed a multi-objective optimization (MOO) MBDOE, where model nonlinearity was taken into consideration through the use of curvature. The proposed MOO MBDOE involved maximizing data informativeness using a FIM-based metric and at the same time minimizing the model curvature. We demonstrated the advantages of the MOO MBDOE over existing FIM-based and other curvature-based MBDOEs in an application to the kinetic modeling of fed-batch fermentation of Baker's yeast.

Information-related measures are useful tools for multi-variable data analysis, as measures of dependence among variables, and as descriptions of order and disorder in biological and physical systems. Measures, like marginal entropies, mutual / interaction / multi -information, have long been used in a number of fields including descriptions of systems complexity and biological data analysis. The mathematical relationships among these measures are therefore of significant inherent interest. Relations between common information measures include the duality relations based on Möbius inversion on lattices. These are the direct consequence of the symmetries of the lattices of the sets of variables (subsets ordered by inclusion). While these relationships are of significant interest there has been, to our knowledge, no systematic examination of the full range of relationships of this diverse range of functions into a unifying formalism as we do here. In this paper we define operators on functions on these lattices based on the Möbius inversions that map functions into one another (Möbius operators). We show that these operators form a simple group isomorphic to the symmetric group S₃. Relations among the set of functions on the lattice are transparently expressed in terms of the operator algebra, and, applied to the information measures, can be used to derive a wide range of relationships among diverse information measures. The Möbius operator algebra is naturally generalized which yields extensive new relationships. This formalism now provides a fundamental unification of information-related measures, and the isomorphism of all distributive lattices with the subset lattice implies an even broader application of these results.

A model of space-time is presented, whose origin is set before the appearance of any universe. It uses concepts of previous work, a central one being that the information about the laws of nature is stored locally everywhere in space such that all physical processes obey them. Since information storage is bound to matter or energy, space is assumed to consist of dark energy (DE), which thus assumes an importance far beyond its function as a stopgap for an energy deficit in our universe (U). The primordial state (PS) is a timeless and relatively large space of 3 dimensions described by a Wheeler DeWitt (WDW) equation, whose solution is interpreted as an arrangement of very many space quanta and possesses all the characteristics of the time-honored concept of the unmoved mover. The comparison of WDW solutions belonging to different mass densities of the DE favors one in which the space quanta are mini black holes, and allows the space quanta to be imagined as mass points that are kept at a distance compatible with the quantum volume by the Pauli principle or something equivalent. Triggered by an increase in probability, the PS is followed by a time-dependent state of space expansion (ES). The concomitant emergence of time occurs in a lightning huge crash, consuming almost all DE of the PS. The subsequent expansion proceeds in quantum leaps, whose huge size emerges from a WDW equation novelly derived from the time-dependent classical expansion solution, and is also used as size of the PS. Information is assumed to be geometrically stored in arrangements of space quanta similar to how genetic information is stored in DNA molecules. During space expansion information must be transferred from already existing "information quanta" to new ones. This requires time, slows down the expansion and is taken into account by a friction term in the cosmological momentum equation. Sinc e the Friedmann-Lemaître (FL) equation remains fully valid, the model can exclusively be based on recognized equations, so that the assumptions used to build it can be understood as interpretations.

The giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is one of the most endangered species of land mammals and has significant academic research value worldwide. The evaluation of hematological parameters in giant pandas is important for assessing the physiological status of animals. This study collected blood samples from 12 healthy giant pandas from September 2018 to August 2020 under non-anesthetic conditions. The samples were then analyzed for basic blood indices and blood rheology, and normal values for hematological parameters and blood rheology under non-anesthetic conditions in giant pandas in Beijing area were obtained. The study confirmed the influence of age and season on hematological and biochemical parameters in captive giant pandas: hematological morphology, blood rheology, and serum enzymes showed seasonal variations, while age affected the changes in serum enzymes, serum protein content, and serum metabolite content. There are significant differences in blood indicators among different age groups of giant pandas, indicating variations in the overall metabolic processes and differences among pandas of different age groups. Seasonal variations showed a regulatory effect on blood rheology parameters and a negative effect on blood viscosity. Further research should be conducted to investigate whether factors such as season and climate cause environmental stress in captive giant pandas. The results obtained in this study aim to better protect the stability of the giant panda population and provide references for the appropriate feeding and medical care of captive giant pandas.