Since the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) came into effect, both UNESCO and other international organisations recommend empowering youth to implement the SDGs in universities. Getting started with the SDGs at university level is of special relevance in pre-service teacher training since future teachers are powerful agents of change in the lives of young people. Future teachers need to acquire competencies in sustainability to be able to promote meaningful changes in sustainable behaviour. To that end, holistic approaches to facilitate their acquirement need to be developed. The aim of this study is to explore which teaching methodologies are suitable for the development of competencies in sustainability in Higher Education (HE) and how to empower students to take a leading role in implementing the SDGs in universities. The participants in the study are a group of 23 students in pre-service teacher training. The experimental educational model used for the development of sustainable competencies consists of a methodological sequence of Project-Oriented Learning (POL) and a Cross-disciplinary Workshop on Sustainable Food. This study provides evidence that a holistic approach is appropriate for developing sustainable competencies and contributes to empowering students to implement SDG 12 at their university.

Indonesia is an archipelago with diverse ethnicities, races, languages, cultures, beliefs, and customs. As Indonesians, with these differences, they should respect each other, or what is commonly known as tolerance. However, in the 21st century, tolerance between people in Indonesia is starting to fade. This is due to the development of the times accompanied by technology development, which causes globalization to enter quickly. The culture of tolerance typical of Indonesian society is starting to fade due to the influence of globalization. Based on these problems, this study aims to determine what causes the decline intolerance of Indonesian society in the 21st century and answer what solutions can be given to prevent the decline intolerance of Indonesian society in the 21st century. The research method used is descriptive-qualitative through literature review by analyzing data following the topic to be discussed. The data used are from 20 journal articles with a span of 2019-2021. The results of this study are in the form of a decline in intolerance that the Indonesian people own due to technological advances in the form of adverse use of social media. However, with the existence of moral education and the role of teachers and the government to overcome the decline intolerance, it is hoped that the Indonesian people will understand the meaning and importance of tolerance. This study also has limitations, namely only on the causes of the fading of tolerance in Indonesian society.

Water stress (WS) and heat stress (HS) have a negative effect on soybean plant growth and crop productivity. During WS, soybean plants opt for survival through ion homeostasis and the conformations of proteins are disconcerted as plant cells lose water while HS leads to difficulties in flowering and fruiting. Some of these changes include oxidative stress leading to the destruction of photosynthetic apparatus, macromolecules within cells and the onset of complex signaling cascades. Changes in the physiological characteristics, proteome, and certain metabolites investigated on molecular and cellular functions were studied in two soybean cultivars exposed to different heat and water stress conditions independently and in combination. Leaf protein composition was studied using 2-DE and complemented with MALDI TOF mass spectrometry. While two cultivars displayed genetic variation in response to water and heat stress, thirty-nine proteins were significantly altered in their relative abundance in response to WS, HS and combined WS+HS in both cultivars; a majority of them involved in metabolism, response to heat and photosynthesis showing significant cross-tolerance mechanisms. Functional analysis revealing a majority of heat responsive-proteins were more abundant during HS and combined stress (WS+HS) whereas these proteins were low to WS in cultivar PI 471938 and heat shock proteins were in low abundance to water, heat and combined stresses in cultivar R95-1705. Most protein abundances were not correlated with their expression at mRNA levels in PI cultivar, however, in cultivar R 95, the expression levels of transcript follow their relative abundance in proteins. Our systems bioinformatics analyses revealed that MED37C, a probable mediator of RNA polymerase transcription II protein showed potential interacting partners in Arabidopsis and our studies signifies the marked impact of this protein in PI cultivar. Elevated activities in antioxidant enzymes indicate that the PI-371938 cultivar has the ability to restore the oxidation levels and sustain the plant during the stress. Our study hypothesizes the plant’s development of cross-stress tolerance which will help foster the ongoing ventures in genetic modifications in stress tolerance.

This research was conducted to manufacture thermally expandable microspheres (TEMs) for vehicles’ underbody coating and to apply them on an industrial scale. TEMs heat resistance was studied depending on the ratios of a cross-linking agent and an initiator. This research focused on the content of a cross-linking agent and how it affected the results. The TEMs’ outer shell was thickened to solve the problem of the foam expansion ratio’s reduction that occurred due to the shrinkage after the maximum expansion (Tmax) was reached. After foaming, the cross-sectional thickness and surface of the sample with thickened outer shell were observed. The TEMs with the thickened shell showed the least shrinkage, which indicated excellent shrinkage stability, even after prolonged exposure to heat.

Zika virus (ZIKV) is a flavivirus that originated in Africa but emerged in Latin America in 2015. In this region, other flaviviruses such as Dengue (DENV), West Nile, and Yellow Fever Virus (YFV) also circulate, allowing for possible antigenic cross-reactivity to impact viral infections and immune responses. Studies have found antibody mediated enhancement between DENV and ZIKV, but the impact of YFV antibodies on ZIKV infection has not been fully explored. ZIKV infections cause congenital syndromes, such as microcephaly, necessitating further research into ZIKV vertical transmission through the placental barrier. Recent advancements in biomedical engineering have generated co-culture methods that allow for in vitro recapitulation of the maternal: fetal interface. This study utilized a transwell assay, which is a co-culture model utilizing human placental syncytiotrophoblasts, fetal umbilical cells, and a differentiating embryoid body to replicate the maternal: fetal axis. To determine if cross reactive YFV vaccine antibodies impact the pathogenesis of ZIKV across the maternal fetal axis, maternal syncytiotrophoblasts were inoculated with ZIKV or ZIKV incubated with YFV vaccine anti-sera, and viral load was measured 72 hours post inoculation. The data show that the impact of YFV on ZIKV replication is cell line dependent. In differentiating embryoids, the presence of YFV antibodies enhanced ZIKV infection. Since viral pathogenesis, and the impact of antigenic cross-reactive antibodies, is cell line specific at the maternal-fetal axis, this suggests there may be discreet mechanisms that impact congenital ZIKV infections.

Multi-task Gaussian processes (MTGPs) are a powerful approach for modeling structured dependencies among multiple tasks. Researchers on MTGPs have contributed to enhance this approach in various ways. Current MTGP methods, however, cannot model nonlinear task correlations in a general way. In this paper we address this problem. We focus on spectral mixture (SM) based kernels and propose an enhancement of this type of kernels, called multi-task generalized convolution spectral mixture (MT-GCSM) kernel. The MT-GCSM kernel can model nonlinear task correlations and mixtures dependency, including time and phase delay, not only between different tasks but also within a task at the spectral mixture level. Each task in MT-GCSM has its own generalized convolution spectral mixture kernel (GCSM) with a different number of convolution structures and all spectral mixtures from different tasks are dependent. Furthermore, the proposed kernel uses inner and outer full cross convolution between base spectral mixtures, so that the base spectral mixtures in the tasks are not necessarily aligned. Extensive experiments on synthetic and real-life datasets illustrate the difference between MT-GCSM and other kernels as well as the practical effectiveness of MT-GCSM.

Recently deep cross-modal hashing networks have received increasing interests due to its superior query efficiency and low storage cost. However, most of existing methods concentrate less on hash representations learning part, which means the semantic information of data cannot be fully used. Furthermore, they may neglect the high-ranking relevance and consistency of hash codes. To solve these problems, we propose a Self-Attention and Adversary Guided Hashing Network (SAAGHN). Specifically, it employs self-attention mechanism in hash representations learning part to extract rich semantic relevance information. Meanwhile, in order to keep invariability of hash codes, adversarial learning is adopted in the hash codes learning part. In addition, to generate higher-ranking hash codes and avoid local minima early, a new batch semi-hard cosine triplet loss and a cosine quantization loss are proposed. Extensive experiments on two benchmark datasets have shown that SAAGHN outperforms other baselines and achieves the state-of-the-art performance.

Façade elements are a building component that satisfies multiple performance parameters. Among other things, “advanced façades” take advantage of hybrid solutions, such as assembling laminated materials. In addition to the enhanced mechanical properties that are typical of optimally composed hybrid structural components, these systems are energy-efficient, durable, and offer lighting comfort and optimal thermal performance, an example of which is the structural solution developed in collaboration with the University of Zagreb and the University of Ljubljana within the Croatian Science Foundation VETROLIGNUM project. The design concept involves the mechanical interaction of timber and glass load-bearing members without sealing or bonding the glass-to-timber surfaces. Following earlier research efforts devoted to the structural analysis and optimization of thus-assembled hybrid Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT)-glass façade elements, in this paper, special focus is given to a thermal and energy performance investigation under ordinary operational conditions. A simplified numerical model representative of a full-size building is first presented by taking advantage of continuous ambient records from a Live-Lab mock-up facility in Zagreb. Afterwards, a more detailed Finite Element (FE) numerical analysis is carried out at the component level to further explore the potential of CLT–glass façade elements. The collected numerical results show that CLT–glass composite panels can offer stable and promising thermal performance for façades similar to national and European standard requirements.

Clinical agreement between two quantitative measurements on a group of subjects is generally assessed with the help of the Bland-Altman (B-A) limits. The interpretation regarding agreement is based on whether B-A limits are within the pre-specified clinical tolerance. Thus, clinical tolerance limits are necessary for this method. We argue in this communication that such limits of clinical tolerance can be directly used for assessing agreement and plead that this nonparametric approach is simple and robust to the distribution pattern and outliers. Such direct use of clinical tolerance limits has more flexibility, and it is more effective in assessing the extent of agreement.

As a result of the cancer immunotherapy revolution hundreds of clinical trials of the newly approved immunotherapies are now under way to improve responses. Not unexpectedly, the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to James P. Allison and Tasuku Honjo for their development of cancer therapy by blockade of co-inhibitory signals. While success stories of terminal cancer patients achieving complete remissions are accumulating, not enough research has been done into the risks of the new therapies. Since the use of immunotherapy is becoming more common, and is expected to develop into first- and second-line treatments, immunotoxicity and autoimmunity are emerging as the nemesis of immunotherapy. Immune-related adverse events (IrAEs) could affect any tissue, their incidence may reach up to 90% of patients and toxicity is dose-dependent. While the combination of two immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) increased efficacy, the incidence of severe adverse events was also increased. Apparently, ICIs cannot be restricted to the targeted anti-tumor T cell population. The long lasting objective of cancer regression can only be achieved by paying a price: tolerance to healthy self tissues is compromised. In the face of an ipilimumab induced pan-lymphocytic activation, a therapeutic paradigm shift is required. The task is not desperately trying to put the genie back in the bottle by immune suppressive treatments, but instead harnessing the autoimmune forces by an off label low-dose combined anti-CTLA-4 and anti-PD1 antibody blockade, which is supplemented with conventional interleukin-2 stimulation and hyperthermia. The proof-of-principle of the low-dose-combination therapy was demonstrated in a heavily pre-treated triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) patient with far advanced pulmonary metastases and severe shortness of breath, who had exhausted all conventional treatment. Her pulmonary metastases went into complete remission with transient WHO I-II diarrhea and skin rash. She lived for 27 months after starting the low-dose-combination therapy. She had recurrence as a sternal mass and pleural metastases up to 3 cm. Since the low-dose-combination protocol consists only of approved drugs and treatments, this exceptional response should instigate further research efforts.

Free volume is an extremely important intrinsic defect in polymers. Structurally, the free volume is the randomly distributed holes in the polymer molecular chain segments. From the perspective of molecular movement, it is also the space needed for the movement of molecular segments. In proton exchange membrane fuel cells, the free volume is also the space needed for the directional conduction of protons. Irradiation grafting sulfonated polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) is one of the methods to produce proton exchange membrane with good proton channel rate. Using the LYS-1 program, based on the linear absorption coefficient and backscatter coefficient models, the percentage of annihilated positrons in PVDF in the two-layer model and the three-layer model was studied, and comparing the two fitting results it is determined that the model closest to the positron annihilation percentage required by the PALS experiment is the two-layer model, which allows the percentage of positrons that are annihilated in PVDF films with a thickness of 100 μm to reach 46% using the high energy positron source ⁴⁴Ti without using the positron moderator. Using positron annihilation lifetime spectrum (PALS) analysis methods, based on Eldrup's classical model of free volume, the influence of absorbed doses of α particles on the free volume and crystallinity of PVDF was investigated, respectively. Based on the two test results the model of cross-linking and degradation of polyvinylidene fluoride irradiated by α particles was determined. Afterwards, X-ray diffraction (XRD) methods was used to study the change of PVDF crystal area before and after irradiation. The XRD results are consistent with the results measured by PALS.

As a universal pathogen leading to neonatal defects and transplant failure, Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) has strict species specificity that the inability to using this virus in animals has hampered its pathogenesis study. However, the mechanism of cross-species barrier remains elusive that no non-human cell model has been established to fill this knowledge gap. We observed that primary dermis fibroblasts (TSDF) isolated from the Chinese tree shrew (Tupaia belangeri chinensis), a small laboratory animal with close affinity to primates, were permissive to HCMV replication. In TSDF infected with GFP-expressing HCMV, the green fluorescence and cytopathic effect were observed and the expression of 3 kinetic genes and replication of viral genome were detected. The cell-free viruses produced in TSDF reached 103 pfu/mL at 96 hpi, which were 10-fold lower than in primary human foreskin fibroblasts. Our results demonstrated that TSDF supported low level of lytic replication of HCMV. The TSDF model provides a useful platform for the mechanism study of species barrier of HCMV.

The limited information available on the structure of complexes involving transcription factors and cognate DNA response elements represents a major obstacle in the quest to understand their mechanism of action at the molecular level. We implemented a concerted structural proteomics approach, which combined hydrogen-deuterium exchange (HDX), quantitative protein-protein and protein-nucleic acid cross-linking (XL), and homology analysis, to model the structure of the complex between the full-length DNA binding domain (DBD) of FOXO4 and its DNA binding element (DBE). The results confirmed that FOXO4-DBD assumes the characteristic forkhead topology shared by these types of transcription factors, but its binding mode differs significantly from those of other members of the family. The results showed that the binding interaction stabilized regions that were rather flexible and disordered in the unbound form. Surprisingly, the conformational effects were not limited only to the interface between bound components but extended also to distal regions that may be essential to recruiting additional factors to the transcription machinery. In addition to providing valuable new insights into the binding mechanism, this project provided an excellent evaluation of the merits of structural proteomics approaches in the investigation of systems that arematerial not directly amenable to traditional high-resolution techniques.

Predator-prey interactions present heightened opportunities for pathogen spillover, as predators are exposed to novel parasites through consumption of prey harboring potentially infectious agents. Epizootics with high morbidity and mortality have been recorded following prey-to-predator spillover events with significant conservation implications, particularly for sensitive species. However, relatively few virulent infections following prey consumption are reported, given the very large number of exposures that presumably occur. Further, many transmitted agents are infectious but clinically silent and thus go unrecognized. Mechanisms that determine outcome of predator exposure to prey-based pathogens therefore represent an important, understudied component of disease dynamics that should be considered in modeling approaches and empirical research to better understand disease risk and emergence, particularly in vulnerable or threatened species.

This paper focuses on the impact of defects density and carrier capture cross-section area in the electron transport material (ETM), hole transport material (HTM), and absorber layers on the performance of perovskite solar cells and quantum efficiency (QE). Furthermore, the impact of defects density at the interface between ETM/absorber and absorber/HTM is also studied. SCAPS-1D software is used in the current study in determining solar cell performance. The proposed perovskite solar cell structure is a planar FTO/TiO2/ CH3NH3PbI3/ Cu2O. The results indicated that increasing the defect density in the absorber layer significantly affects cell performance, while in ETM and HTM layers, the cell parameters remain unaffected. It is also found that the defect capture cross-section has a similar behavior to the defect density in the main layers (ETM, absorber, and HTM). In addition, it is observed that by increasing the defects density in the ETM/absorber and absorber/HTM interfaces layer, the cell parameters FF, Jsc, and PCE have been slightly decreased, with no effect on Voc. Moreover, it is also noted that the quantum efficiency QE is sharply reduced. Finally, this paper introduced the correlation between the defect density and the capture cross-section, which is the first attempt to find such a relationship in perovskite solar cells to the knowledge of the authors.

The concept of sustainable management in culture has been recognised in global strategic documents on sustainable development for more than a decade. It is also increasingly reflected in the cultural polices of particular states, and – very importantly –cultural managers responsible for shaping the cultural offer in cities are becoming more interested in this concept. Despite the increasing attention being paid to this topic among both practitioners and theoreticians of management, in none of these documents or other works can we find any content directly related to the possibility of applying this concept in a town which, due to political turmoil, has been divided by a national border. Hence, this gap was the direct impulse for taking up research in this field. In the article, by using different notions of the market, our own definition of a cross-border market for cultural services was developed, and the conditions for the functioning of this market were presented based on the example town of Cieszyn (Poland) and Český Těšín (Czech Republic). In the opinion of the authors of the article, the development and functioning of a cross-border market for cultural services is essential for the application of the concept of sustainable management of the cultural offer in a town divided by a border. For the purpose of the article, a survey and individual interviews with experts shaping the cultural offer in Cieszyn and Český Těšín were conducted. The results of the research prove that despite numerous cross-border Czech-Polish projects carried out by cultural institutions, there are still many barriers in the town which make it difficult for the residents to benefit from the cultural offer available on the other side of the border. These barriers limit the full implementation and application of the concept of sustainable management of the cultural offer.

Brain Tumor is one of the severe diseases and occurrence of this disease threats human life. Detection of brain tumor in advance can secure patient’s life from unwanted loss. Well-timed and swift disease detection and treatment strategy can lead to improved quality of life in these patients. This paper attempts to use Machine Learning based ensemble approaches for recognising patients with brain tumor. Ensemble technique based AdaBoost classifier and 10-fold stratified cross-validation method are assembled in single platform is proposed in this paper for prediction of brain tumor. This prediction is compared against three baseline classifiers such as Gradient Boost, Random Forest and Extra Trees classifier. Experimental result implies the superiority of this model with an accuracy of 98.97%, f1-score of 0.99, kappa statistics score of 0.95 and MSE of 0.0103.

Original and improved version of the Hardy Cross iterative method with related modifications are today widely used for calculation of fluid flow through conduits in loops-like distribution networks of pipes with known node fluid consumptions. Fluid in these networks is usually natural gas for distribution in the municipalities, water in waterworks or hot water in district heating system, air in the case of ventilation systems in buildings or mines, etc. Since, the resistances in these networks depend of flow, problem is not linear like in electrical circuits, and iterative procedure must be used. In both version of the Hardy Cross method, in original and in the improved one, initial results of calculation in iteration procedure is not flow, but rather the correction of flow. Unfortunately, these corrections should be added to or subtracted from a flow calculated in previous iteration according to complicate algebraic rules. After the here presented node-loop method, final results in each of the iterations is flow directly rather than flow correction. In that way complex algebraic scheme for sign of flow correction is avoided, while the final results still remain unchanged. Numbers of required iterations for the same results are comparable with the improved Hardy Cross method.

Magnesium supplementation has recently attracted attention as effective in the management of diabetes and its related complications though its mechanisms of action is yet to be fully unraveled. This study was carried out to determine the effects of magnesium supplementation on body weight, fasting blood sugar, Oral glucose tolerance (OGTT 2 and OGTT 4), glucose transporter isoform 2 (GLUT2), GLUT4 and insulin receptor (INSR) mRNA expressions in streptozotocin-nicotinamide induced diabetic Sprague dawley rats. A total of 24 Sprague dawley rats (Four groups of six rats each) were used for this study, and the treatment was for 28 days. Group 1: Normal control rats were given distilled water; Group 2: Metformin treated rats were given 100 mg/kg body weight; Group 3: Metformin + Magnesium treated rats were given 100 mg/kg and 1000 mg/kg body weight respectively; Group 4: Diabetic untreated rats given distilled water. Data were analyzed statistically using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and graphically by Graph pad prism. The GLUT4 and INSR gene expressions of Group 3 were significantly (p<0.05) upregulated when compared with Group 4. There was significant (p<0.05) decrease fasting blood sugar and GLUT2 mRNA level in the treated diabetic rats but the metformin-magnesium supplement treated group showed more decrease (p<0.05) when compared with the group treated with metformin only. This study demonstrates that magnesium may mediate effective metabolic control by stimulating insulin sensitivity, and upregulating mRNA levels of GLUT4, INSR as well as improving glucose tolerance in diabetic rats. Therefore, magnesium supplementation appears to have a beneficial role and improves glucose uptake by cells in those at high risks of diabetes. Magnesium supplementation, Metformin, INSR, GLU4, glucose tolerance.

Limited observational studies have described the relationship between sleep duration and overall diet. The present study investigated the association between sleep duration at weekdays and empirically derived dietary patterns in a nationally representative sample of UK adults, aged 19-64 years old, participating in the 2008-2012 UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey Rolling Programme. Survey members completed between three to four days of dietary records. Sleep duration at weekdays was categorised into tertiles to reflect short, normal and long sleep duration. Social jetlag was calculated as the difference between sleep duration at weekends and weekdays. The association between sleep duration/ social jetlag and dietary patterns, derived by principal components analysis, was assessed regressing diet on sleep whilst accounting for the complex survey design and adjusting for relevant confounders. Survey members in the highest tertile of sleep duration had on average 0.45 (95% CI -0.78, -0.12) lower healthy dietary pattern score compared to middle tertile (p =0.007). There was an inverted u-shaped association between social jetlag and a healthy dietary pattern, such that when sleep at weekends exceeded weekday sleep by 1h 45min, scores for indicating a healthy dietary pattern declined (p =0.005). In conclusion, long sleep duration at weekdays and an increased social jetlag are associated with a lower healthy dietary pattern score. Further research is required to address factors influencing dietary patterns in long sleepers.

Uridine diphosphate (UDP)-glycosyltransferases (UGTs) are major phase II detoxification enzymes involved in glycosylation of lipophilic endobiotics and xenobiotics, including phytoalexins. Nicotine, one of the most abundant secondary plant metabolites, is highly toxic to herbivorous insects. Plant-herbivore competition has been the major impetus for evolution of large superfamilies of UGTs and other detoxification enzymes. However, UGT functions in Myzus persicae adaptation have remained unknown. In this study, UGT inhibitors (sulfinpyrazone and 5-nitrouracil) significantly increased nicotine toxicity in M. persicae nicotianae, suggesting UGTs may be involved in nicotine tolerance. One hundred one UGT transcripts identified from the M. persicae genome/transcriptome were renamed according to UGT Nomenclature Committee guidelines and clustered into 11 families: UGT329, UGT330, UGT339, UGT341-UGT345, and UGT348-UGT350. UGT344 contained the most UGTs (fifty-seven). Ten UGTs (UGT330A3, UGT339A2, UGT341A6, UGT342B3, UGT343C3, UGT344D5, UGT344D8, UGT348A3, UGT349A3 and UGT350A3) were overexpressed in M. persicae nicotianae compared with M. persicae sensu stricto. UGT330A3/UGT344D5/UGT348A3/UGT349A3 knockdown significantly increased M. persicae nicotianae nicotine sensitivity, suggesting UGT upregulation in this subspecies may be associated with nicotine tolerance and thus host adaptation. This study reveals possible UGTs relevant to nicotine adaptation in tobacco-consuming M. persicae nicotianae and might facilitate further validation of the roles of these UGTs in nicotine tolerance.

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) breeding programs can take over a decade to release a new variety. However, new methods of selection such as genomic selection (GS) must be integrated to decrease the time it takes to release new varieties to meet the demand of a growing population. The implementation of GS into breeding programs is still being explored, with many studies showing its potential to change wheat breeding through achieving higher genetic gain. In this review, we explore the integration of GS for a wheat breeding program by redesigning the traditional breeding pipeline to implement GS. We propose implementing a two-part breeding strategy by differentiating between population improvement and product development. The implementation of GS in the product development pipeline can be integrated into most stages and can predict within and across breeding cycles. Additionally, we explore optimizing the population improvement strategy through GS recurrent selection schemes to reduce crossing cycle time and significantly increase genetic gain. The recurrent selection schemes can be optimized for parental selection, maintenance of genetic variation, and optimal cross-prediction. Overall, we outline the ability to increase the genetic gain of a breeding program by implementing GS and a two-part breeding strategy.

Molecular methods have revolutionised virtually every area of biology, and metazoan phylogenetics is no exception: molecular phylogenies, molecular clocks, comparative phylogenomics, and developmental genetics have collectively transformed our understanding of the evolutionary history of animals. Moreover, the diversity of methods and models within molecular phylogenetics has resulted in significant disagreement among molecular phylogenies as well as between these and traditional phylogenies. Here, I argue that tackling this multifaceted problem lies in integrating evidence to infer the best evolutionary scenario. I begin with an overview of recent developments in early metazoan phylogenetics, followed by a discussion of key conceptual issues in phylogenetics revolving around phylogenetic evidence and theory. I then argue that integration of different kinds of evidence is necessary for arriving at the best evolutionary scenario rather than the best-fitting cladogram. Finally, I discuss the prospects of this view in stimulating interdisciplinary cross-talk in early metazoan research and beyond.

A new requirement for the manufacturing companies in Industry 4.0 is to be flexible with respect to changes in demands, requiring them to react rapidly and efficiently on the production capacities. Together with the trend to use Service-Oriented Architectures (SOA), this requirement induces a need for agile collaboration among supply chain partners, but also between different divisions or branches of the same company. In order to address this collaboration challenge, we~propose a novel pragmatic approach for the process analysis, implementation and execution. This~is achieved through sets of semantic annotations of business process models encoded into BPMN 2.0 extensions. Building blocks for such manufacturing processes are the individual available services, which are also semantically annotated according to the Everything-as-a-Service (XaaS) principles and stored into a common marketplace. The optimization of such manufacturing processes combines pattern-based semantic composition of services with their non-functional aspects. This is achieved by means of Quality-of-Service (QoS)-based Constraint Optimization Problem (COP) solving, resulting in an automatic implementation of service-based manufacturing processes. The produced solution is mapped back to the BPMN 2.0 standard formalism by means of the introduced extension elements, fully detailing the enactable optimal process service plan produced. This approach allows enacting a process instance, using just-in-time service leasing, allocation of resources and dynamic replanning in the case of failures. This proposition provides the best compromise between external visibility, control and flexibility. In this way, it provides an optimal approach for business process models' implementation, with a full service-oriented taste, by implementing user-defined QoS metrics, just-in-time execution and basic dynamic repairing capabilities. This paper presents the described approach and the technical architecture and depicts one initial industrial application in the manufacturing domain of aluminum forging for bicycle hull body forming, where the advantages stemming from the main capabilities of this approach are sketched.

Finding new ways for the preparation of cross-linked structures is a significant problem in terms of materials for biomedical application, lithium batteries electrolytes, and etc. Within this work we have studied the possibility to utilize hydrosilylation and Piers-Rubinsztajn reactions to obtain cross-linked model phosphazene compounds, containing eugenoxy and guaiacoxy groups. It was shown that Piers-Rubinsztajn reaction cannot be efficiently used to prepare tailored polymer-matrix, due to the catalyst deactivation by nitrogen atoms of phosphazene units. A number of cross-linked phosphazene-based materials was obtained with the use of hydrosilylation reaction and their properties were studied by NMR spectroscopy, FTIR, DSC, and TGA. This work showed a perspective for the use of eugenoxy functional groups for the preparation of three-dimensional hybrid phosphazene/siloxane-based materials for various applications.

Background: Public misconception and demand for the indication of antibiotics could lead to inappropriate prescribing and consumption. Successful treatment can only be achieved when the public and industrial users have knowledge on antibiotic use and resistance. This survey is aimed to assess antibiotic usage and knowledge regarding antibiotics and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) among undergraduate students of Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD), public university located in Brunei Darussalam. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed using a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire was adapted from the World Health Organization (WHO) Antibiotic Resistance, Multi-country public awareness survey distributed online. Students at UBD were invited to participate in the online survey through internal email. The questionnaire consisted of 5 sections: demographic information, antibiotic usage, knowledge on antibiotics, antibiotic resistance (AMR) and use of antibiotics in agriculture. Data were analyzed descriptively and appropriate inferential statistics was used accordingly. Cronbach’s alpha was also done to determine the internal consistency. The section on antibiotic use and knowledge showed good internal consistency of Cronbach’s alpha 0.66 and 0.86 respectively. Research ethics approval was obtained from the PAPRSB Institute of Health Sciences, Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD). Results: A total of 145 students returned the complete questionnaire. The result of the study found that 50% of the students had good level of knowledge of antibiotic and antimicrobial resistance with a mean total knowledge score of 11.4 out of 14. Respondents reported the use of antibiotic in the past (69%). Many of the students could identify the use of antibiotics for the treatment of bacterial infection. However, there were also students who incorrectly thought that antibiotics can be used for cold and flu (43%) and fever (41%). Moreover, 76% of the respondents mistakenly believed that antibiotic resistance is the result of the body becoming resistant to antibiotics. Only 12% of the respondents were found to have poor knowledge in the study. Conclusions: Misconceptions in regards to the use of antibiotics for conditions related to viral illnesses was noticed among the respondents in our study. Thus, improving knowledge on antibiotics is crucial to address those beliefs.

Visualization is an essential tool for analysis of data and communication of findings in the sciences, and the Earth System Science (ESS) are no exception. However, within ESS specialized visualization requirements and data models --- particularly for those data arising from numerical models --- often make general-purpose visualization packages difficult, if not impossible, to effectively use. This paper presents VAPOR: a domain-specific visualization package that targets the specialized needs of ESS modelers, particularly those working in research settings where highly interactive exploratory visualization is beneficial. We specifically describe VAPOR’s ability to handle ESS simulation data from a wide variety of numerical models, as well as a multi-resolution representation that enables interactive visualization on very large data while using only commodity computing resources. We also describe VAPOR’s visualization capabilities, paying particular attention to features for geo-referenced data and advanced rendering algorithms suitable for time-varying, 3D data. Finally, we illustrate VAPOR's utility in the study of a numerically simulated tornado. Our results demonstrate both ease-of-use and the rich capabilities of VAPOR in such a use case.

Over recent years globalisation has occasioned a dramatic rise in cross-cultural interactions – until this was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic (OECD 2018, Nelson &amp; Luetz 2021). The ability to competently engage in a multicultural world is often considered the “literacy of the future” (UNESCO 2013, OECD 2018). Global interconnectedness has brought studies into intercultural competence to centre stage (UNDP 2004, Bissessar 2018, Nelson et al. 2019). This has increased the demand for cross-cultural education experiences that facilitate such learning. However, there is a dearth of empirical research into the issues and effects surrounding short-term cross-cultural educational experiences for adolescents. This mixed methods study extends previous research by looking specifically into what impact short-term cross-cultural experiences may have on the formation of intercultural competence and emotional intelligence of Australian high school students. This study used two instruments for measuring intercultural competence and emotional intelligence in a pre- and posttest quasi-experimental design (n=14), the GENE Scale and TEQ. Moreover, it conducted in-depth post experience qualitative interviews (n=7) that broadly followed a phenomenological paradigm of inquiry. The findings suggest that fully embodied cross-cultural immersive experiences offer benefits in areas of intercultural competence and emotional intelligence and can offer meaningful application in areas of current affairs. A greater understanding of the linkages between immersive cross-cultural experiences and intercultural competence offers prospects for policy makers, educators, pastoral carers, and other relevant stakeholders who might employ such experiential learning to foster more interculturally and interracially harmonious human relations.

The combination of chemical cross-linking and mass spectrometry is currently a progressive technology for deriving structural information of proteins and protein complexes. In addition, chemical cross-linking is a powerful tool for stabilizing macromolecular complexes for single particle cryo-electron microscopy. Broad pallets of cross-linking chemistry, currently available for the majority of cross-linking experiments, still rely on the amine-reactive N-hydroxysuccinimide esters targeting mainly N-termini and lysine side chains. These cross-linkers are divided into two groups: water soluble and water insoluble; and research teams prefer one or another speculating on the benefits of their choice. However, the effect of cross-linker polarity on the outcome of cross-linking reaction has never been studied. Herein, we use both polar (bis(sulfosuccinimidyl) glutarate) and non-polar (disuccinimidyl glutarate) cross-linkers and systematically investigated the impact of cross-linker hydrophobicity on resulting distance constraints, using bovine serum albumin as a model protein.

Zika virus (ZIKV) co-circulates with several closely related flaviviruses which exhibit similar clinical manifestations thus, clinicians rely on molecular and serological techniques for diagnosis. Cross-reactivity of patient specimens to flaviviruses is a significant impediment to serological diagnosis in areas where multiple flaviviruses co-circulate. Furthermore, patient exposure history to any of these viruses could complicate serological response patterns which could result in over and/or underdiagnosis of ZIKV infection. Three strains of ZIKV, dengue serotypes 1-4, West Nile virus, Japanese Encephalitis virus, and Yellow Fever virus were evaluated for neutralizing properties against 3 monoclonal antibodies, 4 ZIKV-naïve patients with flavivirus exposure history, 5 patients with verified ZIKV exposure and unknown flavivirus exposure history, and 5 flavivirus-naive patients with ZIKV-only exposure. Patients naïve for ZIKV exposure effectively neutralized multiple strains of ZIKV. Overall, the prototype ZIKV isolate MR-766 did not behave like the other ZIKV isolated used in this study. MR-766 was neutralized more completely by polyclonal patient serum than recent ZIKV isolates. MR-766 was neutralized better than dengue virus in ZIKV-naïve patients with prior dengue exposure. MR-766 was neutralized significantly less than recent ZIKV isolates when treated with monoclonal antibodies. The data herein show that without RT-PCR, serological diagnosis may not be possible in areas where multiple flaviviruses are endemic.

We report on the successful preparation of wet dressings hydrogels based on Chitosan-Poly(N-Vinyl-Pyrrolidone)-Poly(ethylene glycol)-Poly(acrylic acid) and Poly(ethylene oxide) by e-beam cross-linking in weakly acidic media, to be used for rapid healing and pain release of infected skin wounds. The structure and compositions of hydrogels investigated according to sol-gel and swelling studies, network parameters, as well as FTIR and XPS analyses showed the efficient interaction of the hydrogel components upon irradiation, maintaining the bonding environment while the cross-linking degree increasing with the irradiation dose and the formation of a structure with the mesh size in the range 11-67 nm. Hydrogels with gel fraction above 85% and the best-swelling properties in different pH solutions were obtained for hydrogels produced with 15 kGy. The hydrogels are stable in the simulated physiological condition of an infected wound and show appropriate moisture retention capability and the water vapor transmission rate up to 272.67 g m-2 day-1, to ensure fast healing. The hydrogels proved to have a significant loading capacity of ibuprofen (IBU), being able to incorporate a therapeutic dose for the treatment of severe pains. Simultaneously, IBU was released up to 25% in the first 2h, having a release maximum after 8h.

Five-day exposure of clary sage (Salvia sclarea) to 100 μM cadmium (Cd) in hydroponics was sufficient to increase Cd concentrations significantly in roots and aboveground parts and affect negatively whole plant levels of calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg), since Cd competes for Ca channels, while reduced Mg concentrations are associated with increased Cd tolerance. Total zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), and iron (Fe) uptake increased but their translocation to the aboveground parts decreased possible due to translocation barriers. Despite the substantial levels of Cd in leaves, without any observed defects on chloroplast ultrastructure, an enhanced photosystem II (PSII) efficiency was observed, with a higher fraction of absorbed light energy to be directed to photochemistry (ΦPSΙΙ). The concomitant increase in the photoprotective mechanism of non-photochemical quenching of photosynthesis (NPQ) resulted in an important decrease in the dissipated non-regulated energy (ΦNO), modifying the homeostasis of reactive oxygen species (ROS), through a decreased singlet oxygen (1O2) formation. Thus, when clary sage was exposed to Cd for a short period, tolerance mechanisms were triggered, with PSII photochemistry to be regulated by NPQ in such a way that PSII efficiency to be enhanced. However, exposure to a combination of Cd and high light or for longer duration (8 days) to Cd alone, resulted in an inhibition of PSII functionality pointing out towards Cd toxicity. Thus, the rapid activation of PSII functionality at short time exposures and the inhibition at longer duration suggests a hormetic response and describes these effects in terms of “adaptive response” and “toxicity”, respectively.

Viroids are known the smallest plant pathogens, and although their genome sequences do not encode proteins, they can cause disease in economically important crops. In order to control viroid diseases and mitigate their damage, genetic resources used for breeding of the viroid-resistant crop have been searched, but the practical resistant trait has not been found in almost all viroid-crop combinations, as well as the tolerant trait. Due to the difficulty in exploiting naturally occurring resistance or tolerance, various effective strategies have been devised to control viroid diseases using non-transforming or transforming techniques. Meanwhile, extensive findings related to viroid resistance and tolerance may lead to confer resistance or tolerance to viroid infection by combining with the recently emerged new technologies (e.g., spray-induced gene silencing and genome-editing technologies), which are believed to be more environmentally viable and acceptable to the general public than previously reported approaches. In particular, some genome-modified crops produced by the latter technology are already on the market. In this review, we comprehensively summarize the current status about investigation of naturally occurring genetic traits for viroid resistance and tolerance, accumulating knowledge about host factors involved in viroid pathogenicity, and various basic technologies developed to try to possible viroid disease control strategies. Furthermore, we discuss prospects and challenges for the achievement of more effective, practical, and sustainable disease control of viroid.

An attractive option for realizing applications in radiation environments is to employ All-Programmable System-on-Chips (APSoCs) thanks to their high-performance computing and power efficiency merits. Despite APSoC's advantages, like any other electronic device, they are prone to radiation effects. Processors found in APSoCs must, therefore, be adequately hardened against ionizing-radiation to become a viable alternative for harsh environments. This paper proposes a novel triple-core lockstep (TCLS) approach to secure the Xilinx Zynq-7000 APSoC dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor against radiation-induced soft errors by coupling it with a MicroBlaze TMR subsystem in Zynq's programmable logic (PL) layer. The proposed strategy uses software-level checkpointing principles along with roll-back and roll-forward mechanisms (i.e. software redundancy), and hardware-level processor replication as well as checker circuits (i.e. hardware redundancy). Results of fault injection experiments show that the proposed solution achieved high soft error security by mitigating about 99% of bit-flips injected into both ARM cores' register data.

Heat stress occurring during the reproductive stage of wheat has a detrimental effect on productivity. A durum wheat core set was exposed to simulated terminal heat stress by applying plastic tunnels at the time of flowering over two seasons. Mean grain yield was reduced by 54% compared to control conditions, and grain number was the most critical trait for tolerance to this stress. The combined use of tolerance indices and grain yield identified five elites: Kunmiki, Berghouata1, Margherita2, IDON37-141, and Ourgh. The core set was also subjected to genome wide association study using 7,652 polymorphic SNPs markers. The most critical genomic regions were identified in association with spike fertility and tolerance indices on chromosome 1A, 5B and 6B. Haplotype analysis on a set of 208 elites confirmed that lines that carried the positive allele at all three QTLs resulted in a yield advantage of 8% when field tested under daily temperatures above 31° C. Two of the QTLs were successfully validated into KASP markers and explained >10% of the phenotypic variation for an independent elite germplasm set. These genomic regions can now be readily deployed via breeding to improve resilience to climate change and increase productivity in heat-stressed areas.

At present more than 9 million people die of cancer every year. Simple and broad-spectrum drugs are still an urgent need for cancer patients. Recently, we proposed a new hypothesis that intracellular osmotic pressure (IOP) is the driving force of cell division, and abnormal tumor proliferation is the result of uncontrolled IOP in cells. On the one hand, aneuploidy and abnormal function of Na⁺/K⁺ pump lead to a faster rise of IOP in tumor cell than normal cells, on the other hand, abnormality of cytoskeleton assembly leads to the decrease of tolerance limit of cell membrane (TLCM) of tumor cells for resisting IOP. This hypothesis predicts: 1)Tumor cells were more intolerant to hypotonic stress than normal cells. 2) Maligancies may be sellectively killed by a suddenn increase of IOP and combined with decrease of the TLCM of tumors. Na⁺/K⁺ pump inhibitors can promotely increase the IOP of tumor cells and cytoskeleton inhibitors can dramatically lower the TLCM of tumor cells. Therefore, Na⁺/K⁺ pump and cytoskeleton inhibitors may have a synergetic effect to kill tumor cells. 3) Molecules regulating cell osmolality may be new targets for cancer treatment.

For enhancing the maximized profit from bank as well as customer perspective, term deposit can accelerate finance fields. This paper focuses on likelihood of term deposit subscription taken by the customers. Bank campaign efforts and customer details are influential while considering possibilities of taking term deposit subscription. An automated system is provided in this paper that approaches towards prediction of term deposit investment possibilities in advance. Neural network(NN) along with stratified 10-fold cross-validation methodology is proposed as predictive model which is later compared with other benchmark classifiers such as k-Nearest Neighbor (k-NN), Decision tree classifier (DT), and Multi-layer perceptron classifier (MLP). Experimental study concluded that proposed model provides significant prediction results over other baseline models with an accuracy of 88.32% and Mean Squared Error (MSE) of 0.1168.

This paper examined the multifractal properties of six acknowledged agro-meteorological parameters, such as reference evapotranspiration (ET0), wind speed (U), incoming solar radiation (SR), air temperature (T), air pressure (P), and relative air humidity (RH) of five stations in California, USA. The investigation of multifractality of datasets from stations with differing terrain conditions: Dagget, Bakersfield, Santa Maria, Los Angeles and San Diego using the Multifractal Detrended Fluctuation Analysis showed the existence of a long term persistence and multifractality irrespective of the location. The scaling exponents of SR and ET0 time series are found to be higher for stations with higher altitudes. Subsequently, this study proposed using the novel multifractal cross correlation (MFCCA) method to examine the multiscale-multifractal correlations properties between ET0 and other investigated variables. MFCCA could successfully capture the scale dependent association of different variables and the dynamics in the nature of their associations from seasonal to multi-annual time scale. The multifractal exponents of pressure and relative air humidity are consistently lower than the exponents of ET0, irrespective of station location. This study found that joint scaling exponent was nearly the average of scaling exponents of individual series in different pairs of variables. Additionally, the α-values of joint multifractal spectrum were lower than the α values of both of the individual spectra, validating two universal properties in the mutifractal cross correlation studies for agro-meteorological time series. The temporal evolution of cross-correlation showed similar pattern for all pair-wise associations involving ET0, except for the RH-ET0 link.

Low temperature is a common biological abiotic stress in major cotton growing areas. Cold stress significantly affects the growth, yield and yield quality of cotton. Therefore, it is important to develop a more robust and cold stress tolerant cotton germplasms. Climate change and erratic climatic condition, plants have evolved various survival mechanisms, one of which induction of various stress responsive transcriptome factors, such as the C-repeat binding factor GthCBF4, which have been found to enhance cold tolerance in various plants. In this study detailed evaluation of the cotton C-repeat binding factor has been carried out. A total of29, 28, 25, 21, 30, 26 and 15 proteins encoded by the C-repeat binding factor were identified in G. herbaceum, G. arboreum, G. thurberi, G. raimondii, G. turneri, G. longicalyx and G. australe, respectively. Phylogeny evaluation revealed that the proteins were grouped into seven clades, with clade 1 and 6 being the largest. Moreover, majority of the proteins encoded by the genes were predicted to be located within. the nucleus, while some are distributed in other parts of the cell. Based on the transcriptome and RT-qPCR analysis, Gthu17439 (GthCBF4) was highly upregulated and was further validated through forward genetics. The Gthu17439 (GthCBF4) overexpressed plants showed a significantly tolerance to cold stress, with higher growth vigour compared to the wild types. The results showed that the Gthu17439 (GthCBF4) could be playing a significant role in enhancing cold stress tolerance in cotton and can be further exploited in developing a more cold stress tolerance cotton germplasm

A portable urea sensor for use in the fast flow condition was fabricated using porous polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) membranes coated with amine-functionalized parylene, parylene-A, by vapor deposition. To generate a specific electrochemical sensor signal from urea, the urea-hydrolyzing enzyme urease was immobilized on the parylene-A-coated PTFE membranes via chemical crosslinking using glutaraldehyde. The urease-immobilized membranes were assembled in a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) fluidic chamber, and a screen-printed carbon three-electrode system was used for electrochemical measurements. The success of urease immobilization was confirmed using fluorescence microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. The optimum concentration of urease for immobilization on the parylene-A-coated PTFE membranes was determined to be 48 mg/mL, and the optimum number of membranes in the PDMS chamber was found to be 8. Using these optimized conditions, we fabricated the urea biosensor and monitored urea samples under various flow rates ranging from 0.5 to 10 mL/min in the flow condition using chronoamperometry. To test the applicability of the sensor for physiological samples, we used it for monitoring urea concentration in the waste peritoneal dialysate of a patient with chronic renal failure, at a flow rate of 0.5 mL/min.

Spatial planning holds a key role in preventing or mitigating the impacts of climate change on both cities and rural areas, taking a forward-thinking and holistic approach to urban and regional development. As such, spatial planning deals with challenges occurring at different scales and across sectors. The international literature points out the need for horizontal and vertical cooperation to tackle climate change impacts. While there is abundant knowledge regarding the challenges related to climate change at different spatial levels, procedural integration into planning frameworks and practice is currently under-researched. This paper presents a novel theoretical framework that integrates various steps towards a holistic, integrative and adaptive climate proofing process. An iterative process was used for conceptual development, based on literature review followed by external feedback meetings and two workshops with the core team of planning experts responsible for exchange across federal states. By specifically addressing the challenges relating to cross-regional and cross-sectoral planning, this novel framework attempts to (i) facilitate a hierarchy of measures, (ii) maximise co-benefits for various adaptation purposes and climate change mitigation and (iii) foster the long-term institutionalisation of integrative processes across sectors, planning areas and policy levels.

Background/Goals: The gut hormone PYY secreted from intestinal L-cells has been implicated in the mechanisms of satiation via Y2-receptor (Y2R) signaling in the brain and periphery and is a major candidate for mediating the beneficial effects of bariatric surgery on appetite and body weight. Methods: Here we assessed the role of Y2R signaling in the response to low- and high-fat diets and its role in the effects of Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) surgery on body weight, body composition, food intake, energy expenditure and glucose handling, in global Y2R-deficient (Y2RKO) and wildtype mice made obese on high-fat diet. Results: Both male and female Y2RKO mice responded normally to low- and high-fat diet in terms of body weight, body composition, fasting levels of glucose and insulin, as well as glucose and insulin tolerance for up to 30 weeks of age. Contrary to expectations, obese Y2RKO mice also responded similarly to RYGB compared to WT mice for up to 20 weeks after surgery, with initial hypophagia, sustained body weight loss, and significant improvements in fasting insulin, glucose tolerance, HOMA-IR, and liver weight compared to sham-operated mice. Furthermore, non-surgical Y2RKO mice weight-matched to RYGB showed the same improvements in glycemic control as Y2RKO mice with RYGB that were similar to WT mice. Conclusions: PYY signaling through Y2R is not required for the normal appetite-suppressing and body weight-lowering effects of RYGB in this global knockout mouse model. Potential compensatory adaptations of PYY signaling through other receptor subtypes or other gut satiety hormones such as GLP-1 remain to be investigated.

Abstract Optimal targeting of nanoparticles (NP) to dendritic cells (DCs) receptors to deliver cancer-specific antigens is key to an efficient induction of anti-tumor immune responses. Poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) nanoparticles containing tètanus toxoid and gp100 melanoma-associated antigen, toll-like receptor adjuvants were targeted to the DC-SIGN receptor in DCs by specific humanized antibodies or by ICAM3-Fc fusion proteins mimicking natural ligand. Despite higher binding and uptake efficacy of anti-DC-SIGN antibody-targeted NP vaccines than ICAM3-Fc ligand, no difference were observed in DC activation markers CD80, CD83, CD86 and CCR7 induced. DCs loaded with NP coated with ICAM3-Fc appeared more potent in activating T cells via cross-presentation than antibody-coated NP vaccines. This fact could be very crucial in the design of new cancer vaccines.

Drought is among the most important abiotic stressors influencing food-crop production worldwide. Currently, drought-tolerant maize materials are rarely used for actual breeding because corn production primarily focuses on heterosis to generate desired varieties. In this article, we reviewed current work on assessing maize drought tolerance. We suggested that the development of enhanced screening techniques must clearly consider the connection between theory and application. We strongly recommend that agricultural scientists focus on translating the results of laboratory experiments into practical methods for improving crop productivity.

The crystal nucleation and overall crystallization kinetics of cross-linked poly(ε-caprolactone) was studied experimentally by fast scanning calorimetry in a wide temperature range. With an increasing degree of cross-linking, both the nucleation and crystallization half-times increase. Concurrently, the glass transition range shifts to higher temperatures. In contrast, the temperatures of the maximum nucleation and the overall crystallization rates remain the same independent of the degree of cross-linking. The cold crystallization peak temperature generally increases as a function of heating rate, reaching an asymptotic value near the temperature of the maximum growth rate. A theoretical interpretation of these results is given in terms of classical nucleation theory. In addition, it is shown that the average distance between the nearest cross-links is smaller than the estimated lamellae thickness, which indicates the inclusion of cross-links in the crystalline phase of the polymer.

Kaempferia parviflora Wall. ex Baker (KP), Krachaidam in Thai or Thai ginseng, is an herbal medicine that has many potential pharmacological effects. This study focused on the oral glucose tolerance test and pharmacokinetic study in healthy volunteers administered with KP extract (90 and 180 mg/day, placebo). The oral glucose tolerance tests were performed at baselines and 28-days of administration. The pharmacokinetics were determined after a single dose administration of the tested products using 3,5,7,3,4-pentamethoxyflavone (PMF) and 5,7,4-trimethoxylfavone (TMF) as markers. The results showed that glucose metabolism via oral glucose tolerance test was not affected by KP extract. The results of pharmacokinetics study revealed that only TMF and PMF, but not DMF levels could be detected in human blood. The given doses of KP extract at 90 and 180 mg/day showed a linear dose-relationship of blood PMF concentration whereas blood TMF was detected only at high given dose (180 mg/day). The half-lives of PMF and TMF were 2–3 h. The Cmax, AUC and Tmax values of PMF and TMF estimated for the 180 mg/day dose were 85.3711.31, 73.2329.93 mg/ml; 291.8948.23, 412.20203.69 mg.h/ml; and 3.890.37, 4.500.96 h, respectively. PMF was quickly eliminated with higher Ke and Cl than TMF at the dose of 180 mg/day of KP extract. In conclusion, the results demonstrated that KP extract had no effect on glucose tolerance test. In addition, this is the first demonstration of the pharmacokinetic parameters of methoxyflavones of KP extract in healthy volunteers in a phase I study in drug development. The data suggest the safety of the KP extract and will be of benefit for further clinical trials using KP extract as food and sport supplements as well as a drug in health product development.

Facade elements are known to represent a building component with multiple performance parameters to satisfy. Among others, “advanced facades” take advantage of hybrid solutions, like the assemblage of laminated materials. In addition to enhanced mechanical properties that are typical of optimally composed hybrid structural components, these systems are energy-efficient, durable, and offer lightening comfort and optimal thermal performance. This is the case of the structural solution developed in joint research efforts of the University of Zagreb and the University of Ljubljana, within the Croatian Science Foundation VETROLIGNUM project. The design concept involves the mechanical interaction of timber and glass load-bearing members, without sealing or bonded glass-to-timber surfaces. Laminated glass infilled timber frames are recognized as a new generation of structural members with relevant load-carrying capacity (and especially the enhancement of earthquake resistance of framed systems), but also energy-efficient and cost-effective solutions.

The uptake of buildings employing cross-laminated timber (CLT) assemblies and designed to Passivhaus standard has accelerated internationally over the past two decades due to several factors including design responses to the climate crisis by decarbonising the building stock. Structural CLT technology and the voluntary Passivhaus certification both show measurable benefits in reducing energy consumption, while contributing to durability and indoor comfort. However, there is a general lack of evidence to support a fast uptake of these technologies in Australia. This paper responds to the compelling need of providing quantitative data and adoption strategies, it explores their combined application as a potential pathway for climate-appropriate design of energy-efficient and durable mass timber envelope solutions for subtropical and tropical Australian climates. Hygrothermal risk assessments of interstitial condensation and mould growth of CLT wall assemblies inform best-practice design of mass timber buildings in hot and humid climates. This research found that the durability of mass timber buildings located in hot and humid climates may benefit from implementing the Passivhaus standard to manage interior conditions. The findings also suggested that climate-specific design of the wall assembly is critical for mass timber buildings, in conjunction with excellent stormwater management practices during construction and corrosion protection for metallic fasteners.

This article presents the results of a cross-disciplinary applied study exploring investors’ protections in the context of distributed ledger technology (DLT) smart contracts. Fusing legal, business, and technical perspectives, we developed a framework for protection from non-commercial risks for stablecoins, taking advantage of DLT and AI. A key concept we propose is the monitoring of disinformation and fake news to prevent malicious parties from abusing our solution. Based on the similarities between central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and stablecoins, we propose scaling up our results to all future internet investments performed without face-to-face contact between the investor and the company.

For better export marketing strategies (EMS), companies mobilize their internal resources, which are managerial commitment, firm experience, and product uniqueness. However, Small businesses with constrained resources cannot be well explained with this view. So, more research on how small business come up with EMS have been called for. To explain how resource-restricted firms which rely heavely on entrepreneur, this study adopted the concept of dynamic managerial capabilities (DMCs) and resource versatility to better explain small business exports. We analyzed small businesses in Mongolia with qualitative research methods, including interviews with entrepreneurs and support organizations, site visits, and group discussions. We suggest international dynamic marketing capabilities (IDMCs), which are entrepreneurial orientation, networking capability, and versatile dynamic capability for small business. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

This paper introduces the spatial component in cross-section econometric estimations and specifically, the spatial dependence effect inherent in some of the variables involved in the modelling process. First, the spatial structure of the data from thematic maps is observed and Moran's spatial autocorrelation indicators are presented. Subsequently, the spatial weights matrix is built under different specifications. Finally, several modelling specification strategies are shown and the interpretation of the estimated coefficients. The theoretical concepts are illustrated with examples and their corresponding R software codes. This code and databases are available in a freely accessible repository in the BE2SHARE-EUDAT platform so that they can be easily reproduced.

Nighttime lights (NTL) are a popular type of data for evaluating economic performance of regions and economic impacts of various shocks and interventions. Several validation studies use traditional statistics on economic activity like national or regional Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a benchmark to evaluate the usefulness of NTL data. Many of these studies rely on dated and imprecise Defence Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) data and use aggregated units such as nation-states or the first sub-national level. Yet applied researchers who draw support from validation studies to justify their use of NTL data as a proxy for economic activity increasingly focus on smaller and lower level spatial units. This study uses a 2001-19 time-series of GDP for over 3100 US counties as a benchmark to examine the usefulness of the recently released version 2 VIIRS nighttime lights (V.2 VNL) products as proxies for local economic activity. Contrasts are made between cross-sectional predictions for GDP differences between areas and time-series predictions of GDP changes within areas. Disaggregated GDP data for various industries are used to examine what types of economic activity are best proxied by NTL data and comparisons are also made with the predictive performance of earlier NTL data products.

A major task in Functional Time Series Analysis is measuring the dependence within and between processes, for which lagged covariance and cross-covariance operators have proven to be a practical tool in well-established spaces. This article deduces estimators and asymptotic upper bounds of the estimation errors for lagged covariance and cross-covariance operators of processes in Cartesian products of abstract Hilbert spaces for fixed and increasing lag and Cartesian powers. We allow the processes to be non-centered, and to have values in different spaces when investigating the dependence between processes. Also, we discuss features of estimators for the principle components of our covariance operators.

used traditional microbial starters revealed that effective fermentation requires three microbial strains with complementary metabolic activities: filamentous fungi (Rhizopus oryzae), yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), and lactic acid bacteria (Lactobacillus plantarum). Relative to natural communities, modulation of the ratio of these three microorganisms led to significant differences not only in terms of ethanol and organic acid production, but also with the profile of volatile compounds. However, inoculation of an equal ratio of spores/cells of the three aforementioned microbial strains led to a flavor profile and ethanol yield similar to that obtained with natural communities. Compartmentalization of metabolic tasks through the use of a biofilm cultivation device allowed further improvement of the entire fermentation process, notably by increasing the amount of key components of the aroma profile of the fermented beverage (i.e., mainly phenylethyl alcohol, isobutyl alcohol, isoamyl alcohol, and 2-methyl-butanol) and reducing the amount of off-flavor compound. This study represents an initial step toward understanding interkingdom microbial interactions with a strong potential for application in the food biotechnology.

Upland cotton is sensitive to 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), and the identification of potentially 2,4-D tolerant cotton chromosome substitution (CS) lines and understanding tolerance mechanisms provide a significant step into the development and genetic improvement of upland cotton to reduce yield loss caused by 2,4-D herbicide effects including the drifts. Experiments were conducted to understand the possible mechanism of herbicide tolerance in CS-T04-15, CS-T07, and CS-B15sh, 2,4-D herbicide-tolerant cotton CS lines compared with TM-1, the 2,4-D herbicide susceptible recurrent parent of the CS line as control, using [14C]2,4-D. Percent absorption rate and translocation patterns of the 14C-labeled herbicide application at 5.17 kBq at 6 to 48 hours after treatment (HAT) were determined. The tolerant cotton CS lines showed 15-19% [14C]2,4-D uptake while TM-1 exhibited a reduced uptake of only 1.4% [14C]2,4-D at 24 HAT. Distribution of the absorbed [14C]2,4-D showed that 2-5% was translocated outside the treated leaf. In TM-1, 77% of the herbicide was translocated above and below the treated leaf, contrasting with the reduced translocation of 14C-labeled herbicide observed in the tolerant CS lines. Interestingly, CS-T04-15 showed a restricted movement of 14C below the treated leaf at 6 to 48 HAT, suggesting a novel mechanism of herbicide tolerance. This finding is the first report on upland cotton demonstrating a complex differential uptake and translocation associated with herbicide tolerance for [14C]2,4-D in cotton CS lines.

COVID-19 has been a global healthcare concern impacting multiple aspects of individual and community wellness. As one moves forward with different methods to reduce the infection and mortality rates, it is critical to continue to study the impact that national and local ‘social distancing’ policies have on the daily lives of individuals. The aim of this study was to examine loneliness in relation to risk assessment, measures taken against risks, concerns, and social media use, while adjusting for sociodemographic variables. The cross-sectional study collected data from 3469 individuals from USA, UK, Norway, and Australia. Loneliness was measured with the de Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale. Multiple linear regression was used in the analysis of associations between variables. The results showed that concerns about finances were more strongly associated with social loneliness, while concerns about the future was more strongly associated with emotional loneliness. Longer daily time spent on social media was associated with higher emotional loneliness. In conclusion, pandemic-related concerns seem to affect their perceptions of loneliness. While social media can be used productively to maintain relationships, and thereby prevent loneliness, excessive use may be counterproductive.

Since the COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 break out in Wuhan China from Dec. 2019, it has spread to hundreds of countries up to now. Scientists from all over the world have paid tremendous efforts to research and try to control the disease. Previous studies suggested that some of the wild animals could be intermediate hosts between humans and origination of SARS-CoV-2, and some companion animals of humans can be infected by SARS-CoV-2, which raised our curiosity about cross-infection of SARS-CoV-2 between animals and humans. Thus, we select some kinds of animals that might have contact with humans to estimate the susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 in different animals by evolutionary analysis of their receptors for SARS-CoV-2. The results show that some companion animals of the Felidae family like the cat has a higher infection possibility while the species of the Rodent family like the rat and mouse having close contact with humans show an opposite result, which consist with recent animal experiments and researches. These should raise concerns about cross-infection between human and companion animals or animals having close contact with humans which might turn animals into depositaries of the coronavirus even after control of SARS-CoV-2 spreading and cause second or more waves of infections after social reopening. Another side of our results stands by the opinion that bioinformatic analysis can be consistent with experiments in some respects so that we can prevent unnecessary sacrifice of laboratory animals in future experiments.

Viral infections are a natural part of our existence. They can affect us in many ways that are the result of the interaction between the viral pathogen and our immune system. Most times the resulting immune response is beneficial for the host. The pathogen gets cleared thus protecting our vital organs with no other consequences. Conversely, the reaction of our immune system against the pathogen can cause organ damage (immunopathology) or lead to autoimmune disease. To date, there are several mechanisms for virus-induced autoimmune disease, including molecular mimicry and bystander activation, in support of the “fertile field” hypothesis, terms defined in our review. On the flip side, viral infections have been associated with protection from autoimmunity through mechanisms that include Treg invigoration and immune deviation, in support of the “hygiene hypothesis”, also defined here. Infection with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) is one of the prototypes showing that the interaction of our immune system with viruses can either accelerate or prevent autoimmunity. Studies using mouse models of LCMV have helped conceive and establish several concepts that we today know and explain how viruses can lead to autoimmune activation or induce tolerance. Some of the most important mechanisms established during the course LCMV are described in this short review.

Patterns of age and growth of a sedentary damsel fish Acanthochromis polyacanthus were tested over a latitudinal range of approximately 10 degrees (1,200 km) on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Within latitudes these patterns were also compared on reefs across a continental shelf that ranged in width from 52 to 128 km. Although variation in length-max, growth, age-max and the von-Bertalanffy metrics of L, and K were found within and among latitudes, greatest variation in some demographic characteristics were found across the shelf regardless of latitude. Fish were always smaller at inner shelf reefs and grew more slowly when compared to mid and outer shelf reefs. The oldest fish collected was 11 years old and, there were no consistent variation in age-max among distances from shore. On outer reefs, there was a linear relationship with age-max and latitude. This ‘tropical gradient’ of age only explained 34% of the variation, further this was not found when the oldest 10% of fish were considered. Fish only reached an age-max of 6 years on the southern-most reefs. There was a trend for a smaller L with latitude but, it was not significant and L did not vary predictably with water temperature. The sampling of MPAs did not confound the resultant patterns. Instantaneous mortality rates were 0.245-0.685, highest at inner reefs and showed no consistent MPA-related patterns. Our study suggested that the mid and outer shelf waters of the GBR appeared best suited for growth of A. polyacanthus. In conclusion, position on continental shelves and related local environmental conditions needs to be considered in spatial models of growth.

Halophytic plants are, by definition, well adapted to saline soils. However, even halophytes can face nutritional imbalance and accumulation of high levels of compounds such as oxalic acid (OA), and nitrate (NO₃^¯). These compounds compromise the potential nutritional health benefits associated with salt tolerant plants such as Portulaca oleracea. Thus, preventing the accumulation of non-nutritional compounds will allow plants to be grown in saline conditions as crops. To this end, two ecotypes (ET and RN) of Portulaca oleracea plants were grown under growth room conditions with two levels of salinity (0, 50 mM NaCl) and three ratios of nitrate: ammonium (0:100%; 33:66%; 25:75% NO₃^¯:NH₄⁺). The results showed that both ecotypes exposed to elevated NO₃^¯, showed severe leaf chlorosis, high levels of OA, citric acid, and malic acid, while plants of ecotype ET exposed to elevated NH₄⁺ concentrations (33% and 75%) and 50 mM NaCl displayed a marked reduction in OA content, increased total chlorophyll and carotenoid contents, crude protein content, total fatty acid (TFA) and α-Linolenic acid (ALA) thus enhancing leaf quality. This opens the potential to grow high biomass, low OA P. oleracae crops. Lastly, our experiments suggest that ecotype ET copes with saline conditions and elevated NH₄⁺ through shifts in leaf metabolites.

Microglial cells, the resident macrophages of the CNS, exist in a process-bearing, ramified/surveying phenotype under resting conditions. Upon activation by cell damaging factors they get transformed to an amoeboid phenotype releasing various cell products including pro-inflammatory cytokines, chemokines, proteases, reactive oxygen/nitrogen species and the excytotoxic ATP and glutamate. In addition, they engulf pathogenic bacteria or cell debris and phagocytose them. However, already resting/surveying microglia has a number of important physiological functions in the CNS; they e.g. shield small disruptions of the blood-brain barrier by their processes, dynamically interact with synaptic structures and clear surplus synapses during development. In neurodegenerative illnesses they aggravate the original disease by a microglia-based compulsory neuroinflammatory reaction. Therefore, the blockade of this reaction improves the outcome of Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, etc. The function of microglia is regulated by a whole array of purinergic receptors classified as P2Y12, P2Y6, P2Y4, P2X4, P2X7, A2A, A3, and being targets for endogenous ATP, ADP, or adenosine. ATP is sequentially degraded by the ecto-nucleotidases and 5’-nucleotidase enzymes to the weak adenosine agonist inosine as an end-product. The appropriate selective agonists/antagonists for purinergic receptors as well as the respective enzyme inhibitors may profoundly interfere with microglial functions and reconstitute the homeostasis of the CNS disturbed by neuroinflammation.

Scheduling of real time tasks are very important aspect in systems as processes should complete its task at a specific time. There is a need of high energy efficiency and low response time in large data stream so for this energy efficient resources and optimized frameworks are needed. Both hard real time and mixed critically systems are targeted. Soft deadline can be handled while hard deadlines are difficult to cater. Different algorithms are used to schedule tasks like rate monotonic, earliest deadline first, deadline monotonic etc.

The article discusses the issue of the sustainable development of the cross-border market for cultural services in a city divided by the state border. The article uses the example of Cieszyn and Český Těšín, a city divided following the decision of the Council of Ambassadors in 1920. The research carried out so far indicates the main constraints in the harmonious functioning of the cross-border market for cultural services in this city, such as: different cultural policies implemented on both sides of the city, language barriers as well as legal and administrative differences. Therefore, the authors undertook research aimed at recognising the role of Euroregional structures in stimulating the sustainable development of this region. On the basis of the analysis of the Cieszyn Silesia Euroregion's documentation and the results of qualitative and quantitative research, the article describes the role of the Euroregion in building a cross-border market for cultural services. Recommendations were also prepared that could constitute the principles of a common cultural policy not only for Cieszyn and Český Těšín, but also for other European cities in the Schengen Area, which, like Cieszyn and Český Těšín, have been divided by a state border.

Diffusion bonding is often used on pre-machined parts to generate internal cavities, e.g. for cooling injection molding tools close to the mold cavity. Only then, the workpieces are finished to their final dimensions. In the case of micro-process devices, however, it is essential to precisely control the deformation, as otherwise uncontrollable pressure losses will occur with channel cross-sections in the sub-millimeter range. Post-processing is not possible. The most important process parameters for diffusion bonding are temperature, dwell time and contact pressure, with the bonding temperature and contact pressure acting in opposite directions and showing a strong non-linear dependence on deformation. In addition, the deformation is influenced by a number of other factors such as the absolute size of the cross-section and the aspect ratio of the parts, the dimensions and distribution of the internal cross sections and the overall percentage of the cross-section to be bonded. In micro process engineering, small material cross-sections in the range of the materials microstructure can facilitate additional deformation mechanisms such as grain boundary sliding, which are not relevant at all for larger structures. For parts consisting of multiple layers, tolerances in thickness and roughness of multiple surfaces must be levelled, contributing to the percentaged deformation. This makes it difficult, especially in micro process engineering and in single or small series production, to determine suitable joining parameters in advance, which on the one hand do not cause unforeseen large deformations, but on the other hand reliably produce highly vacuum-tight components. Hence, a definition of a fixed percentaged deformation does not work for all kinds of components. This makes it difficult to specify parameters for surely obtain high-vacuum tight parts. For successful diffusion bonding, atoms must diffuse over the bonding planes, forming a monolithic part in which the original layers are no longer visible. Only then, mechanical properties identical to those of the base material, which has been subjected to identical heat treatment, can be achieved. In this paper, the impacts of different material cross section widths as well as of the aspect ratio on deformation were investigated. By accident, it was found that also accuracy of the temperature measurement may have a serious impact in terms of deformation.

Nowadays, the human population is facing the third and may be the worst pandemic caused by human coronaviruses (CoVs). The virus was first reported in Wuhan, China on 31 December 2019 and spread within short time to almost all countries of the world. Genome analysis of the early virus isolates has revealed high similarity with SARS-CoV and hence the new virus was officially named SARS-CoV-2. Since CoVs have the largest genome among all RNA viruses, they can adapt many point mutation and recombination events; particularly in spike gene, that enable these viruses to rapidly change and evolve in nature. CoVs are known to cross the species boundaries by using different cellular receptors. SARS-CoV-2 is believed to originate in bats and transmitted to human being through an ill-defined intermediate host. In the current review, different aspects of SARS-CoV-2 biology and pathogenicity are discussed including virus genetics and evolution, spike protein and its role in evolution and adaptation to novel hosts, and virus transmission and persistence in nature. In addition, the immune response developed during SARS-CoV-2 infection is demonstrated with special reference to the interplay between immune cells and their role in disease progression. We believe that SARS-CoV-2 outbreak will not be the last and spillover of CoVs from bats will continue. Therefore, establishing intervention approaches to reduce the likelihood of future CoVs spillover from the natural reservoirs is a priority.

The prevalence of back pain (BP) among children and adolescents has increased over recent years. Some authors advocate promoting back-health education in the school setting. It is therefore important to adopt a uniform suite of assessment instruments to measure the various constructs. The present study aimed to perform a cultural adaptation of a validated measurement instrument (BackPEI), beginning with a translation and cultural adaptation phase, followed by a second phase to test reliability using a test-retest design. The translation and cross-cultural adaptation were performed based on the guidelines. Reliability was tested by applying the questionnaire to 224 secondary school students, at two different times with a 7-day interval between the tests. In general, the Spanish version presented adequate agreement for questions 1–20, with only question 9 achieving a low Kappa range of .312 [-.152- .189]. The question about pain intensity did not show differences between the averages for the test (4.72 ± 2.33) and re-test (4.58 ± 2.37) (p = .333), and the responses for these two tests were highly correlated (ICC= .951 [.928- .966]; p= .0001). Psychometric testing indicated that the Spanish version of the BackPEI is well-adapted and reliable, based on the test-retest design, providing similar results to the original Brazilian version.

Elevated salinity is one of the major environmental limitation factors of plant growth and development and salinity stress compromises the production and survival of plantation and urban forests and agricultural crops in the arid, semi-arid, and intertidal zones. Ulmus pumila, a salt- indigenous tree species in Asia and is widely deployed in salt-affected areas in China, and U.pumila is promising for multi-varietal forestry in plantation and urban forests. The comprehensive mechanism of the intraspecific salt tolerance is still not clear yet. Here, we investigated the physiological responses of the salinity stress based on the antioxidant enzyme activities, osmotic adjustments, and gas exchange among salt-tolerant U. pumila genotypes for 100 days under five different NaCl levels (0%, 0.3%, 0.5%, 0.7%, and 0.9% w/v) with natural surroundings and rain shade at age-2. Salt stress decreased height (HR), ground diameter (DR), and dry weight (biomass) were significantly different among genotypes. HR and performance indices were positively correlated with photosynthesis rate (Pn), apparent mesophyll conductance (AMC), and chlorophyll (CHLL) with (r= 0.7 - 0.8 ***), but were negatively related to the free proline, sugar, and protein accumulation (r=-0.5 ~ -0.7***). We found that high accumulation of sugars and more activities of SOD enzyme in leaf tissue contribute to the osmotic adjustment and ROS scavenging system under salinity treatment; the sugar content and SOD activity play key roles in U. pumila’s tolerance to salt stress, and are promising indicators for U. pumila species ex vitro selections. The ex vitro selection results align with the previous in vitro studies [37] and is promising for the MVF development.

The molecular evolution of medulloblastoma is more complex than was previously imagined as emerging evidence suggests that multiples interactions between the tumor cells and components of the tumor microenvironment (TME) are important for tumor promotion and progression. The identification of several molecular networks within the TME, which interact with tumoral cells, has provided new clues to understand the tumorigenic roles of many TME components as well as potential therapeutic targets. In this review, we discuss the most recent studies regarding the roles of astrocytes in supporting the sonic hedgehog (SHH)–activated medulloblastoma molecular subgroup, and provide an overview of medulloblastoma progression through SHH expression and signal transduction mechanisms into the complex tumor microenvironment. In addition, we highlight the associations between tumor and stromal cells as possible prognostic markers and new therapeutic strategies.

Despite significant advances in metallurgy and the potential to create high and very high-strength steel, all international specifications for steel design provided little information about the limits of slenderness for high-strength steel sections (HSSs) and didn’t give anything about the design of very high-strength steel sections (VHSSs). The American structural steel design specification covers circular hollow sections (CHS) of steel grades up to S690, while it isn't in ANSI/AISC 360-16 and ASTM A514/A514M. Euro code EN 1993-1-1 can be applicable only to steel grades up to S460. EN 1993-1-3 and EN 1993-1-12 contain supplementary rules for cold-formed members and HSS (S460- S700), respectively. Though ductility requirements for (HSS) are specifically established in EN 1993-1-12, it is largely a continuation of the normal-strength-steel design procedures standardized in EN 1993-1-1, where (HSSs) are largely treated as normal-strength steels in these rules, and the same design approaches are used. The behavior of high and very high-strength steel circular hollow sections under axial compression load is studied in this research. A total of 16 nonlinear finite-element (FE) models were generated to replicate stub column tests that were experimentally tested by others in previous research. Hence, a parametric study is conducted using forty FE models developed to investigate the local buckling behavior under various slenderness ratios comprehensively. The developed models cover slenderness ratios ranging from 20 to 1226 and steel grades S460 and S1100 with yield stress equal 460 MPa and 1152 MPa, respectively. The FE results were combined with 105 previously collected experimental results to assess the applicability of existing codified design methodologies in the Euro code and the North American codes of cold-formed CHS. Based on the results of this study, new cross-sectional slenderness limits and new design equations for more efficient simple designs were presented for high and very-high strength steel circular hollow sections and Compared with the results of experimental tests and FE models.

This letter aims to show the connection between the sinc approximation for high-energy absorption cross section and the shadow radius of the spherically symmetric black hole. This connection can give a physical interpretation of the absorption cross section in the eikonal limit parameters. Moreover, the use of this alternative way, one can extract its shadow radius from the absorption cross section in high energy limits to gain more information about the black hole spacetime. Our results indicate that the increasing the value of the shadow radius of the black hole, exponentially increase the the absorption cross section of the black hole in high-energy limits which can be captured by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration.

In cross-country skiing the time difference between a race winner and the person coming second is typically very small. Since much of the energy is spent on overcoming resistive forces, a relatively small reduction of these can have a significant impact on the results. The resistive forces come partly from the friction in the tribological interface, between the ski and the snow, and as with many tribological applications the characterisation of its origin, plays an important role in determining the frictional properties. Also in cross-country ski friction, there are several scales impacting the frictional performance, with the major contributors being the ski-camber profile and ski-base structure. Macro-scale measurements of the ski's camber profile under load, are often used to determine how adequate the ski is for a specific condition. The characteristic properties usually obtained are, the force required to collapse the ski to a certain camber height, the topography of the kick-wax zone, and by simple means a determined lengths of the frictional interface, i.e., the apparent contact length. To this date, there are some mathematical models, but there is no robust way of determining the macro-scale contact properties between a cross-country ski and a counter surface using simulations. In the present paper an Artificial neural networks (ANN) is trained to predict the ski-camber profile for various loads placed at different positions, and a well established deterministic approach is used to simulate the contact between the ANN-predicted ski-camber profile and a linearly elastic body with a flat surface, representing the snow. The results suggest that this method is feasible for the determination of the apparent contact characteristics of different skis. Moreover, we show that the apparent contact area does not linearly depend on the load, and that the elastic properties of the counter surface also has a large impact on the apparent contact area and the average apparent contact pressure.

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is an alphavirus that causes febrile illness punctuated by severe polyarthralgia. After the emergence of CHIKV in the Western Hemisphere, multiple reports of congenital infections were published that documented neurological complications, cardiac defects, respiratory distress, and miscarriage. The Western Hemisphere is endemic to several alphaviruses and whether antigenic cross-reactivity can impact the course of infection has not been explored. Recent advances in biomedical engineering have produced cell co-culture models that replicate the cellular interface at the maternal fetal axis. We employed a trans-well assay to determine if cross-reactive antibodies affected the movement and replication of CHIKV across placental cells and into an embryoid body. The data show that antibodies to Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV) significantly reduced CHIKV viral load in embryoid bodies. The data highlight that viral pathogenesis can be cell-specific and that exploiting antigenic cross-reactivity could be an avenue for reducing the impact of congenital CHIKV infections.

Microglia are resident immune cells of the central nervous system such as brain-specific macrophages and also known to regulate the innate immune functions of astrocytes through secretory molecules. This conversation plays an important role in brain functions and homeostasis as well as in neuropathologic disease. In this study, we aimed to elucidate whether astrocytes and microglia can cross-talk to induce microglial polarization and proliferation, which can be further regulated under the brain stroke-mimic microenvironment. Microglia in mixed glial culture increased their survival and proliferation and altered to the M2 microglia, whose role was provided by CD11b-GFAP+ astrocytes by showing approximately tenfold increase in microglia cell proliferation after the astrocyte reconstitution. Furthermore, GM-CSF stimulated microglial proliferation approximately tenfold and induced to CCR7+ M1 microglia, whose phenotype could be suppressed by anti-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-4, IL-10, and Substance-P. Also, astrocyte in the microglia co-culture revealed A2 phenotype, which could be activated to A1 astrocyte by TNFα and IFNγ under the stroke-mimic condition. Altogether, astrocyte in the mixed glial culture stimulated the microglia proliferation and M2 polarization possibly through its acquisition of A2 phenotype, both of which could be converted to M1 microglia and A1 astrocytes under the inflammatory stroke-mimic environment. This study demonstrated that microglia and astrocyte can be polarized to M2 microglia and A2 astrocytes respectively through the cross-talk in vitro and provided a system to explore how microglia and astrocyte may behave in the inflammatory disease milieu after in vivo transplantation.

Lung cancer is known as lung carcinoma. It is a disease which is malignant tumor leading to the uncontrolled cell growth in the lung tissue. Lung Cancer disease is one of the most prominent cause of death in all over world. Early detection of this disease can assist medical care unit as well as physicians to provide counter measures to the patients. The objective of this paper is to approach an automated tool that takes influential causes of lung cancer as input and detect patients with higher probabilities of being affected by this disease. A neural network classifier accompanied by cross-validation technique is proposed in this paper as a predictive tool. Later, this proposed method is compared with another baseline classifier Gradient Boosting Classifier in order to justify the prediction performance.

The dominant paradigm holds that spontaneous and therapeutically induced anti-tumor responses are mediated mainly by CD8 T cells and directed against tumor-specific antigens (TSAs). The presence of specific TSAs on cancer cells can only be proven by mass spectrometry analyses. Bioinformatic predictions and reverse immunology studies cannot provide this type of conclusive evidence. Most TSAs are coded by unmutated non-canonical transcripts that arise from cancer-specific epigenetic and splicing aberrations. When searching for TSAs, mass spectrometry analyses must therefore interrogate not only the canonical reading frame of annotated exome but all reading frames of the entire translatome. The majority of aberrantly expressed TSAs (aeTSAs) derive from unstable short-lived proteins that are good substrates for direct MHC I presentation but poor substrates for cross-presentation. This is an important caveat because cancer cells are poor antigen-presenting cells and the immune system therefore depends on cross-presentation by dendritic cells (DCs) to detect the presence of TSAs. We therefore postulate that, in the untreated host, most aeTSAs are undetected by the immune system. We present evidence suggesting that vaccines inducing direct aeTSA presentation by DCs represent an attractive strategy for cancer treatment.

Mapping forest composition using multiseasonal optical time series is still challenging. Highly contrasted results are reported from one study to another suggesting that drivers of classification errors are still under-explored. We evaluated the performances of single-year Formosat-2 time series to discriminate tree species in temperate forests in France and investigated how predictions vary statistically and spatially across multiple years. Our objective was to better estimate the impact of spatial autocorrelation in the validation data on measurement accuracy and to understand which drivers in the time series are responsible for classification errors. The experiments were based on ten Formosat-2 image time series irregularly acquired during the seasonal vegetation cycle from 2006 to 2014. Due to lot of clouds in the year 2006, an alternative 2006 time series using only cloud-free images has been added. Thirteen tree species were classified in each single-year dataset based on the SVM algorithm. The performances were assessed using a spatial leave-one-out cross validation (SLOO-CV) strategy, thereby guaranteeing full independence of the validation samples, and compared with standard non-spatial leave-one-out cross-validation (LOO-CV). The results show relatively close statistical performances from one year to the next despite the differences between the annual time series. Good agreements between years were observed in monospecific tree plantations of broadleaf species versus high disparity in other forests composed of different species. A strong positive bias in the accuracy assessment (up to 0.4 of Overall Accuracy) was also found when spatial dependence in the validation data was not removed. Using the SLOO-CV approach, the average OA values per year ranged from 0.48 for 2006 to 0.60 for 2013, which satisfactorily represents the spatial instability of species prediction between years.

(1) Background: This report examines the unique demands of off-road triathlon (XT) by presenting physiological, field, and race data from a national champion off-road triathlete using several years of laboratory and field data to detail training and race intensity. (2) Methods: Laboratory and field data were collected when the athlete was at near peak fitness and included oxygen consumption (VO2), heart rate (HR), power output (W), and blood lactate (BLC) during cycling and running, while HR, cycling W, and running metrics were obtained from training and race data files over a period of seven years. Intensity was described using % HR max zones (Z) 1 &lt; 75%, 2 = 75 - 87%, and Zone 3 &gt; 87%, and W. An ordinary least squares analysis was used to model differences between event types. (3) Results: Weather conditions were not different across events. XT events had twice the elevation change (p&lt;0.01) and two-three times greater W’ (p&lt; 0.001) than road triathlon (ROAD), but similar HR intensity profiles (max, avg, and zones); both events are predominately performed at &gt; Z2 or higher intensity. Championship XT events were longer (p&lt;0.01) , with higher kJ expenditure (p&lt;0.001). OLS modelling suggested three variables were strongly related (R2 = 0.84; p &lt; 0.0001) to cycling performance: event type (XT vs ROAD), total meters climbed, and total bike duration. Championship XT runs were slower than either regional (p&lt;0.05) or ROAD (p&lt;0.01) runs, but HR intensity profiles similar. OLS modelling indicates that slower running is linked to either greater total bike kJ expenditure (R2 = 0.57; p&lt;0.001), or total meters gained (R2 = 0.52; p&lt;0.001). Race simulation data support these findings but failed to produce meaningful differences in running. Conclusions: XT race demands are unique and mirror MTB and trail running demands. XT athletes must be mindful of developing anaerobic fitness, technical ability, and aerobic fitness, all of which contribute to off-road cycling economy. It is unclear whether XT cycling affects subsequent running performance different from ROAD cycling.

Blockchain technology has been recognized as a promising solution to enhance the security and privacy of Internet of Things (IoT) and Edge Computing scenarios. Taking advantage of the Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus protocol, which solves a computation intensive hashing puzzle, Blockchain assures the security of the system by establishing a digital ledger. However, the computation intensive PoW favors members possessing more computing power. In the IoT paradigm, fairness in the highly heterogeneous network edge environments must consider devices with various constraints on computation power. Inspired by the advanced features of Digital Twins (DT), an emerging concept that mirrors the lifespan and operational characteristics of physical objects, we propose a novel Miner-Twins (MinT) architecture to enable a fair PoW consensus mechanism for blockchains in IoT environments. MinT adopts an edge-fog-cloud hierarchy. All physical miners of the blockchain are deployed as microservices on distributed edge devices, while fog/cloud servers maintain digital twins that periodically update miners’ running status. By timely monitoring miner’s footage that is mirrored by twins, a lightweight Singular Spectrum Analysis (SSA) based detection achieves to identify individual misbehaved miners that violate fair mining. Moreover, we also design a novel Proof-of-Behavior (PoB) consensus algorithm to detect byzantine miners that collude to compromise a fair mining network. A preliminary study is conducted on a proof-of-concept prototype implementation, and experimental evaluation shows the feasibility and effectiveness of proposed MinT scheme under a distributed byzantine network environment.

Light absorption in single nanowires (NWs) is one of the most crucial factors for photovoltaic applications. In this paper, we carried out a detailed investigation of light absorption in single rectangular NWs (RNWs). We show that the RNWs exhibit improved light absorption compared with the square NWs (SNWs), which can be attributed to the symmetry-breaking structure that can increase the light path length by increasing the vertical side and the enhanced leaky mode resonances (LMRs) by decreasing the horizontal side. We found that the light absorption in silicon RNWs can be enhanced by engineering the horizontal and vertical sides, the photocurrent is significantly increased by 276.5% or 82.9% compared with that of the SNWs with the same side length as the horizontal side of 100 nm or the vertical side of 1000 nm, respectively. This work provides an effective way for designing high-efficiency single NW photovoltaic devices based on the symmetry breaking from the SNWs to RNWs.

Desiccation tolerance appeared as the key adaptation feature of photoautotrophic organisms for survival in terrestrial habitats. During the further evolution, vascular plants developed complex anatomy structures and molecular mechanisms to maintain the hydrated state of cell environment, which essentially increased their ability to sustain water deficit and dehydration. However, the role of the genes encoding the mechanisms behind this adaptive feature in the higher vascular plants is restricted to the dehydration protection of spores, seeds and pollen, whereas the mature vegetative stages became sensitive to desiccation. During maturation, orthodox seeds lose up to 95% of their water and successfully enter dormancy. This feature allows seeds maintaining their viability even under strongly fluctuating environmental conditions. The mechanisms behind the desiccation tolerance are activated at the late seed maturation stage and are associated with the accumulation of late embryogenesis abundant proteins (LEA proteins), small heat shock proteins (sHSP), non-reducing oligosaccharides, and antioxidants of different chemical nature. The main regulators of maturation and desiccation tolerance onset are abscisic acid and protein DOG1, which control the network of transcription factors, among which are LEC1, LEC2, FUS3, ABI3, ABI5, AGL67, PLATZ1, PLATZ2. This network is complemented by epigenetic regulation of gene expression by methylation of DNA, post-translational modifications of histones and chromatin remodeling impact on seed desiccation tolerance and longevity. Moreover, orthodox seeds are able to maintain desiccation tolerance during germination up to the stage of radicle protrusion. This time point is critical in the process of seed development, as the seeds lose desiccation tolerance at this moment.

The stiffness of the myosin cross-bridges is a key factor in analysing possible scenarios to explain myosin head changes during force generation in active muscles. The seminal study of Huxley and Simmons (1971: Nature 233: 533) suggested that most of the observed half-sarcomere instantaneous compliance (=1/stiffness) resides in the myosin heads. They showed with a so-called T₁ plot that, after a very fast release, the half-sarcomere tension reduced to zero after a step size of about 60Å (later with improved experiments reduced to 40Å). However, later X-ray diffraction studies showed that myosin and actin filaments themselves stretch slightly under tension, which means that most (at least two-thirds) of the half sarcomere compliance comes from the filaments and not from cross-bridges. Here we have used a different approach, namely to model the compliances in a virtual half sarcomere structure in silico. We confirm that the T₁ curve comes almost entirely from length changes in the myosin and actin filaments, because the calculated cross-bridge stiffness (probably greater than 0.4 pN/Å) is higher than previous studies have suggested. In the light of this, we present a plausible modified scenario to describe aspects of the myosin cross-bridge cycle in active muscle. In particular, we suggest that, apart from the filament compliances, most of the cross-bridge contribution to the instantaneous T₁ response comes from weakly-bound myosin heads, not myosin heads in strongly attached states. The strongly attached heads would still contribute to the T₁ curve, but only in a very minor way, with a stiffness that we postulate could be around 0.1 pN/Å, a value which would generate a working stroke close to 100 Å from the hydrolysis of one ATP molecule. The new program can serve as a tool to calculate sarcomere elastic properties for any vertebrate striated muscle once various parameters have been determined (e.g. tension, T₁ intercept, temperature, X-ray diffraction spacing results).

This study aimed to examine trust in information provided by public authorities and financial measures put in place to address the impact of COVID-19. Using a cross-national approach among four Western countries; the United States of America, Norway, Australia, and the United Kingdom provides an analysis of responses related to trust and how they were associated with age group, gender, education level, employment status, size of place of residence, infection sta-tus, and social media use. When controlling for all included variables in logistic regression analyses, the likelihood of having trust in the public authorities’ information was higher for women, those with higher levels of education, and those living in urban areas. Being infected with the coronavirus, and spending more time daily on social media was associated with lower likelihood reporting trust in information. Although policies implemented to respond to eco-nomic concerns varied cross-nationally, higher age, identifying as female, being employed, liv-ing in a city, and lower levels of social media usage were associated with higher likelihood of trusting in the financial measures put in place to counteract the economic effects of COVID-19.

Machines for direct digital inkjet printing on cylindrical containers are a new technology out on the market. Their commercialization in the industrial sector has been affected by their high precision. This leads to the use of mechanisms with narrow manufacturing tolerances and to the search for topologies that have the least accumulated error without affecting quality. Machines with topologies to work on flat substrates have printing and productivity problems working on cylindrical substrates. This research paper presents the qualitative design of a direct digital inkjet printer working over cylindrical substrates comparing five mechanical topologies; three topologies with radial distribution and two topologies with parallel distribution. The aim of these topologies is to find the precision, quality and efficiency of the printer taking into account the restrictions present in its construction. Each topology has separate constitutive mechanisms, it is analyzed the tolerance ranges between the print head and the substrate whose cumulative error maximizes the inkjet print resolution to determine precision. From five Topologies, number 1, 2 and 5 meet the requirements. the topology 2 meets the requirements but it is not able to be developed due to current technological limitations.

Software defect prediction is an important means to guarantee software quality. Because there are no sufficient historical data within a project to train the classifier, cross-project defect prediction (CPDP) has been recognized as a fundamental approach. However, traditional defect prediction methods using feature attributes to represent samples, which can not avoid negative transferring, may result in poor performance model in CPDP. This paper proposes a multi-source cross-project defect prediction method based on dissimilarity space ( DM-CPDP). This method first uses the density-based clustering method to construct the prototype set with the cluster center of samples in the target set. Then, the arc-cosine kernel is used to form the dissimilarity space, and in this space the training set is obtained with the earth mover’s distance (EMD) method. For the unlabeled samples converted from the target set, the KNN algorithm is used to label those samples. Finally, we use TrAdaBoost method to establish the prediction model. The experimental results show that our approach has better performance than other traditional CPDP methods.

Cisplatin (CDDP), carboplatin (CP), and oxaliplatin (OXP) are three platinating agents clinically approved worldwide for use against a variety of cancers. They are canonically known as DNA damage inducers; however, that is only one of their mechanisms of cytotoxicity. CDDP mediates its effects through DNA damage-induced transcription inhibition and apoptotic signalling. In addition, CDDP targets the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) to induce ER-stress, the mitochondria via mitochondrial DNA damage leading to ROS production, and the plasma membrane and cytoskeletal components. CP acts in a similar fashion to CDDP by inducing DNA damage, mitochondrial damage, and ER stress. Additionally, CP is also able to upregulate micro-RNA activity, enhancing intrinsic apoptosis. OXP, on the other hand, at first induces damage to all the same targets as CDDP and CP, yet it is also capable of inducing immunogenic cell death via ER stress and can decrease ribosome biogenesis through its nucleolar effects. In this comprehensive review, we provide detailed mechanisms of action for the three platinating agents, going beyond their nuclear effects to include their cytoplasmic impact within cancer cells. In addition, we cover their current clinical use and limitations, including side effects and mechanisms of resistance.

Identifying and anticipating potential failures in the cloud is an effective method for increasing cloud reliability and proactive failure management. Many studies have been conducted to predict potential failure, but none have combined SMART (Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology) hard drive metrics with other system metrics such as CPU utilisation. Therefore, we propose a combined metrics approach for failure prediction based on Artificial Intelligence to improve reliability. We tested over 100 cloud servers’ data and four AI algorithms: Random Forest, Gradient Boosting, Long-Short-Term Memory, and Gated Recurrent Unit. Our experimental result shows the benefits of combining metrics, outperforming state-of-the-art.

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

Although the failure of antibiotic treatment is normally attributed to resistance, tolerance and persistence display a significant role in the lack of response to antibiotics. Due to the fact that several nosocomial pathogens show a high level of tolerance and/or resistance to chlorhexidine, in this study we analyzed the molecular mechanisms associated with chlorhexidine adaptation in two clinical strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae by phenotypic and transcriptomic studies. These two strains belong to ST258-KPC3 (high-risk clone carrying β-lactamase KPC3) and ST846-OXA48 (low-risk clone carrying β-lactamase OXA48). Our results showed that K. pneumoniae ST258-KPC3CA and ST846-OXA48CA strains exhibited a different behavior under CHLX pressure, adapting to this biocide through resistance and tolerance mechanisms, respectively. Furthermore, the appearance of cross-resistance to colistin was observed in the ST846-OXA48CA strain (tolerant to CHLX), using the broth microdilution method. Interestingly, this ST846-OXA48CA isolate contained a plasmid that encodes a novel type II toxin/antitoxin (TA) system, PemK/PemI. We characterized this PemK/PemI TA system by cloning both genes into the IPTG-inducible pCA24N plasmid, and found their role in persistence and biofilm formation. Accordingly, the ST846-OXA48CA strain showed a persistence biphasic curve in the presence of a chlorhexidine-imipenem combination, and these results were confirmed by the enzymatic assay (WST-1).

Increased salinity caused by saltwater intrusion or runoff from de-icing salts can severely affect freshwater vegetation and deteriorate aquatic ecosystems. These habitats can be restored with freshwater ecotypes (locally adapted populations) that tolerate above-normal salinity. Vallisneria americana is a prominent species in many freshwater ecosystems that responds differently to abiotic conditions such as substrate composition and fertility, so in this study we evaluated the effects of salt stress on 24 ecotypes of V. americana. Instant Ocean aquarium salt was used to create saline solutions [0.2 to 20.0 parts per thousand (ppt)], then plants were abruptly exposed to these solutions and maintained in these concentrations for 5 weeks before being visually assessed for quality and destructively harvested. Analysis of variance and non-linear regression were used to calculate LC₅₀ values – the lethal concentration of salt that reduced plant biomass and quality by 50% compared to control treatment. Growth rate and visual quality varied significantly among ecotypes, and ecotypes that were most and least sensitive to salt had 50% biomass reductions at 0.47 and 9.10 ppt, respectively. All ecotypes survived 10.0 ppt salinity concentration but none survived at 20.0 ppt, which suggests the maximum salinity concentration tolerated by these ecotypes is between 15.0 and 20.0 ppt.

In recent years, metabolomics has been used as a powerful tool to better understand the physiology of neurodegenerative diseases and identify potential biomarkers for progression. We used targeted and untargeted aqueous, and lipidomic profiles of the metabolome from human cerebrospinal fluid to build multivariate predictive models distinguishing patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), and healthy age-matched controls. We emphasize several statistical challenges associated with metabolomic studies where the number of measured metabolites far exceeds sample size. We found strong separation in the metabolome between PD and controls, as well as between PD and AD, with weaker separation between AD and controls. Consistent with existing literature, we found alanine, kynurenine, tryptophan, and serine to be associated with PD classification against controls, while alanine, creatine, and long chain ceramides were associated with AD classification against controls. We conducted a univariate pathway analysis of untargeted and targeted metabolite profiles and find that vitamin E and urea cycle metabolism pathways are associated with PD, while the aspartate/asparagine and c21-steroid hormone biosynthesis pathways are associated with AD. We also found that the amount of metabolite missingness varied by phenotype, highlighting the importance of examining missing data in future metabolomic studies.

Background: New insecticides with novel modes of action such as neonicotinoids have recently been recommended for public health use by WHO. Resistance monitoring of such novel insecticides requires a robust protocol to monitor the development of resistance in natural populations. In this study, we comparatively used three different solvents to assess the susceptibility of malaria vectors to neonicotinoids across Africa.Methods: Mosquitoes were collected from May to July 2021 from three agricultural settings in Cameroon (Njombe-Penja, Nkolondom, and Mangoum), the Democratic Republic of Congo (Ndjili-Brasserie), Ghana (Atatam), and Uganda (Mayuge). Using the CDC bottle test, we compared the effect of three different solvents (ethanol, acetone, acetone+MERO) on the efficacy of neonicotinoids against Anopheles gambiae s.l. In addition, TaqMan assays were used to genotype key pyrethroid-resistant markers in An. gambiae and to evaluate potential cross-resistance between pyrethroids and clothianidin.Results: Lower mortalities were observed for all populations when using absolute ethanol or acetone alone as solvent (11.4- 51.9% mortality for Nkolondom, 31.7- 48.2% for Mangoum, 34.6- 56.1% for Mayuge, 39.4- 45.6% for Atatam, 83.7- 89.3% for Congo and 71.05- 95.9% for Njombe pendja) compared to acetone + MERO for which 100% mortality was observed for all the populations. Synergist assays (PBO, DEM and DEF) revealed a significant increase of mortality suggesting that metabolic resistance mechanisms are contributing to the reduced susceptibility. A negative association was observed between the L1014F-kdr mutation and clothianidin resistance with a greater frequency of homozygote resistant mosquitoes among the dead than among survivors (OR=0.5; P=0.02). However, the I114T-GSTe2 was in contrast significantly associated with a greater ability to survive clothianidin with a higher frequency of homozygote resistant among survivors than other genotypes (OR=2.10; P=0.013). Conclusions: This study revealed a contrasted susceptibility pattern depending on the solvents with ethanol/acetone resulting in lower mortality, thus possibly overestimating resistance, whereas the addition of MERO consistently increased the efficacy of neonicotinoids in terms of percentage mortalities and time to final mortality. The addition of MERO could however prevent the early detection of resistance development. We therefore recommend monitoring susceptibility using both acetone alone and acetone+MERO (8-10µg/ml for clothianidin) to capture the accurate resistance profile of the mosquito populations.

Soil water loss by evaporation influences the sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) of irrigation drainage water. Evaporation concentrates sodium and magnesium but calcite precipitation has a more complicated effect on soluble calcium and alkalinity. Here we propose a revised sodicity hazard assessment that quantifies the impact of evaporative water loss and calcite precipitation on drainage water SAR. This paper shows sodicity hazard is determined by the initial composition of irrigation water as originally suggested by previous researchers, and provide a simple, accurate way to identify the potential sodicity hazard of any irrigation water. In particular, the initial equivalent concentration of alkalinity and calcium determine the salinization pathway followed during evaporation. If the irrigation water alkalinity exceeds soluble calcium expressed as equivalent concentrations, drainage water SAR approaches an upper limit determined by the initial relative concentration of sodium and magnesium. If irrigation water alkalinity is less than soluble calcium, drainage water SAR approaches a lower limit determined by the initial calcium, magnesium and sodium. In both cases the SAR is scaled by the square root of the concentration factor √Fc quantifying soil water loss. To assess the impact of evaporation and calcite precipitation on the SAR and test the accuracy of the new sodicity hazard assessment, we evaluated data from previously published lysimeter studies. We plotted water composition boundaries for each source water, comparing these boundaries to the drainage water composition recorded in the lysimeter studies. As salinity increased by evaporation, each drainage water followed a distinct salinization path.

The stress imposed by ethanol to Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells are one of the most challenging limiting factors in industrial fuel-ethanol production. Consequently, the toxicity and tolerance to high ethanol concentrations has been the subject of extensive research, allowing the identification of several genes important for increasing the tolerance to this stress factor. However, most studies were performed with well characterized laboratory strains, and how the results obtained with these strains work in industrial strains remains unknown. In the present work we have tested three different strategies known to increase ethanol tolerance by laboratory strains in an industrial fuel-ethanol producing strain: overexpression of the TRP1 or MSN2 genes, or overexpression of a truncated version of the MSN2 gene. Our results show that the industrial CAT-1 strain tolerates up to 14% ethanol, and indeed the three strategies increased its tolerance to ethanol. When these strains were subjected to fermentations with high sugar content and cell-recycle, simulating the industrial conditions used in Brazilian distilleries, only the strain with overexpression of the truncated MSN2 gene showed improved fermentation performance, allowing the production of 16% ethanol from 33% of total reducing sugars present in sugarcane molasses. Our results highlight the importance of testing genetic modifications in industrial yeast strains under industrial conditions in order to improve the production of industrial fuel ethanol by S. cerevisiae.

In the recent decades, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have garnered widespread public attention due to their persistence in the environment and detrimental effects on the health of living organisms, spurring the generation of several transcriptome-centered investigations to understand the biological basis of their mechanism. In this study, we collected 2144 publicly available samples from 7 distinct animal species to examine the molecular responses to PFAS exposure and to determine if there are conserved responses. Our comparative transcriptional analysis revealed that exposure to PFAS is conserved across different tissues, molecules and species. We identified and reported several genes exhibiting consistent and evolutionarily conserved transcriptional response to PFAS, such as ESR1, HADHA and ID1, as well as several pathways including lipid metabolism, immune response and hormone pathways. This study provides the first evidence that distinct PFAS molecules induce comparable transcriptional changes and affect the same metabolic processes across inter-species borders. Our findings have significant implications for understanding the impact of PFAS exposure on living organisms and the environment. We believe that this study offers a novel perspective on the molecular responses to PFAS exposure and provides a foundation for future research into developing strategies for mitigating the detrimental effects of these substances in the ecosystem.

There is tremendous interest, in the economic literature, for the determinants of firms’ capital structure decisions. A rich body of empirical works now exists that purports to identify firm- and country-level factors affecting firms’ financing patterns. In addition, more recently, a new stream of studies has emerged that investigates cross-regional variation in small firms’ capital structure. While small firms’ leverage does seem to vary across regions, at least in countries where significant regional differences in economic and financial development and in the quality of institutions exist, not much yet is known about variation in debt maturity, in debt in relation to equity, and between different types of small firms. The present paper aims to fill this gap through an empirical analysis of cross-regional variation in the capital structure of a sample of about 30,000 Italian small firms over a 13-year period, including the aftermath of the credit crunch that followed the 2007-8 global financial crisis. The findings confirm the view that small firms in underdeveloped regions are more financially constrained, but also amend some of the results shown in the literature, in particular by showing how small firms in Italy’s Southern regions have higher levels of equity and fixed assets than small firms in other regions.

Two ligands, 1, 3-bis(4-carboxyphenyl)imidazolium chloride and 4, 4՛-bipyridine, were employed to prepare nickel and zinc azolium based MOFs, 1 and 2 by the mixed ligand solvothermal approach. The positively charged azolium moieties in the imidazolium linker resulted in a charged environment in the as-synthesized frameworks. As a result, 1 and 2 demonstrated preferential adsorption of CO2 over methane molecules in the gas phase adsorption due to the higher quadruple moment of CO2, which interacts more with the positively charged frameworks. Besides, in aqueous media, 1 and 2 exhibited incredible adsorption efficiency for anionic dyes. In the following, MOF 1 was metallated at the carbene site of the azolium linker to generate the novel heterogeneous catalyst 1-Pd, which was successfully applied for Sonogashira and Suzuki-Miyaura coupling reactions without losing its activity after three cycles.

Long unpunctuated texts containing complex linguistic sentences are a stumbling block to processing any low-resource languages. Thus, approaches that attempt to segment lengthy texts with no proper punctuation into simple candidate sentences are a vitally important preprocessing task in many hard-to-solve NLP applications. In this paper, we propose (PDTS) a punctuation detection approach for segmenting Arabic text, built on top of a multilingual BERT-based model and some generic linguistic rules. Furthermore, we showcase how PDTS can be effectively employed as a text tokenizer for unpunctuated documents (i.e., mimicking the transcribed audio-to-text documents). Experimental findings across two evaluation protocols (involving an ablation study and a human-based judgment) demonstrate that PDTS is practically effective in both performance quality and computational cost.

Leptin is the archetypal adipokine that promotes a negative whole-body energy balance largely through its action on brain leptin receptors. As such, the sustained weight loss and food intake suppression induced by Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) surgery have been attributed to enhancement of leptin receptor signalling. We formally revisited this idea in Zucker Fatty fa/fa rats, an established genetic model of leptin receptor deficiency, and carefully compared their body weight, food intake and oral glucose tolerance after RYGB with that of sham-operated fa/fa (obese) and sham-operated fa/+ (lean) rats. We found that RYGB rats sustainably lost body weight, which converged with that of lean rats and was 25.5 % lower than that of obese rats by the end of the 4 week study period. Correspondingly, daily food intake of RYGB rats was similar to that of lean rats from the second postoperative week, while it was always at least 33.9 % lower than that of obese rats. Further, oral glucose tolerance of RYGB rats was normalized at the forth postoperative week. These findings assert that leptin is not an essential mediator of the sustained weight loss and food intake suppression as well as the improved glycemic control induced by RYGB, and instead point to additional circulating and/or neural factors.

SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes theCOVID-19 disease, has been demonstrated to cause immune suppression in certain individuals. This can manifest as a reduced ability for the host's immune system to effectively control the infection. Studies have reported that patients with COVID-19 can exhibit a decline in white blood cell counts, including natural killer cells and T cells, which are integral components of the immune system's response to viral pathogens. These cells play critical roles in the immune response to viral infections, and their depletion can make it harder for the body to mount an effective defense against the virus. Additionally, the virus can also directly infect immune cells, further compromising their ability to function. Some individuals with severe COVID-19 pneumonia may develop a "cytokine storm," an overactive immune response that may result in tissue damage and organ malfunction. The underlying mechanisms of immune suppression in SARS-CoV-2 are not entirely comprehended at this time, and ongoing research is being conducted to gain a more comprehensive understanding. Research has shown that severe SARS-CoV-2 infection promotes the synthesis of IgG4 antibodies. In this work, we propose the hypothesis that the IgG4 antibody produced by B cells in response to infection by SARS-CoV2 generates immunological tolerance that prevents its elimination, and leads to persistence and chronic infection. In sum, we believe that this constitutes another immune evasion mechanism that bears striking similarities to that developed by cancer cells to evade immune surveillance.

In this study, the dependence between Bitcoin (BTC) and economic policy uncertainty (EPU) of USA and China is estimated by applying latest methodology of quantile cross-spectral dependence. The findings indicate a positive return interdependence between BTC and EPU is high in short-term, and this dependence decreases as investment horizons increase from weekly to yearly. The information on above interdependence is also extracted by applying wavelet coherence analysis and the estimation results suggest that correlation between BTC and EPU is positive during short-term investment horizon. Furthermore, more diversification benefits of BTC can be obtained during USA-EPU as compared to China-EPU.