To expand the application area of the reference group and enrich exercise theoretical research, based on Stimulus-Organism-Response (S–O-R) framework, this study examines the factors that motivate for adherence to exercise from the external. Taking reference group and strategy and cultural fit as the main stimulus, and personal investment and life satisfaction as mediating variables, this study try to explore the influence of external stimulus on residents’ exercise behavior. In order to enrich the sample size, two surveys of 734 Chinese residents in two cities (Xiamen vs. Fuzhou) were conducted using factor analyses, regression analysis, and T-test analysis. The results indicated that the reference group and strategic and cultural fit as external stimulus have impact on residents’personal investment, life satisfaction and exercise adherence, personal investment and life satisfaction as the organism has impact on residents’ exercise adherence. Personal investment and life satisfaction play a chain mediating role between the reference group and exercise adherence, strategy and cultural fit, and exercise adherence. Moreover, the T-test determined the differences between Xiamen and Fuzhou residents’ exercise adherence and life satisfaction. Residents’ surroundings affect their exercise behavior and life satisfaction. These findings have implications for policymaking aimed at promoting national exercise, which could gradually improve residents’ physical fitness, particularly in light of the current coronavirus emergency.

Dupilumab is used to treat atopic dermatitis patients who have proven to be refractory to previous treatments. The aim of this study was to assess evolution and patient reported outcome measures in adult patients with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis treated with Dupilumab in routine clinical practice. The outcomes were evaluated and registered at baseline and weeks-16, 40 and 52. The variables evaluated were: diseases severity, pruritus, stressful life events, difficulty to sleep, anxiety and depression, quality of life, satisfaction, adherence to the treatment, efficacy and safety. Eleven patients were recruited between Nov 14th 2017 and Jan 16th 2018. Demographic variables: 90% Caucasian, 82% women. Clinical variables: Mean duration of AD =17.7 (±12.8), 91% had severe disease severity. At baseline, SCORAD mean score = 61.7 (±15.5); itch was reported by 100% of patients; itch Visual Analogue Scale mean range of 8 (6-10); HADS mean total score =13.9 (±5.5); DLQI mean score =13.3 (±8.3): EQ-5D-3L mean range = 57 (30-99). At week-52 there is a significant reduction of SCORAD scores, HADS total score and improved quality of life. ¡This study confirms that Dupilumab, used for 52-weeks under routine clinical practice, maintains the improved atopic dermatitis signs and symptoms obtained at week-16, with a good safety profile.

Lung cancer is the most common malignancy across the world. The new era in lung cancer treatments, especially this past decade, has yielded novel categories of targeted therapy for specific mutations and adjuvant therapy, both of which have led to improved survival rates. In the present study, we review the changes and development of treatments, with a special focus on adjuvant therapy using tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) administered to non-small-cell lung carcinoma patients who had a complete resection of the tumor harboring a mutated epidermal growth factor receptor. The clinical trials are dating from the past (chemotherapy trials), present (TKIs) and future (ongoing trials).

This study develops a new definition of fractional derivative that mixes the definitions of fractional derivatives with singular and non-singular kernels. Such developed definition encompasses many types of fractional derivatives, such as the Riemann-Liouville and Caputo fractional derivatives for singular kernel type as well as the Caputo-Fabrizio, the Atangana-Baleanu and the generalized Hattaf fractional derivatives for non-singular kernel type. The associate fractional integral of the new mixed fractional derivative is rigorously introduced. Furthermore, newly numerical scheme is developed to approximate the solutions of a class of fractional differential equations (FDEs) involving the mixed fractional derivative. Finally, an application to computational biology is presented.

In the world, migraine is one of the most common cause of disability in adults. To date, there is no a single cause for this disorder, but rather a set of physio-pathogenic triggers, in combination with a genetic predisposition. Among factors related to the migraine onset, a crucial role seems to be played by gut dysbiosis. In fact, it has been demonstrated how the intestine is able to modulate the central nervous system activities, through the gut-brain axis, and how gut dysbiosis can influence neurological pathologies, including migraine attacks. In this contest, in addition to migraine conventional pharmacological treatments, attention has been paid to an adjuvant therapeutic strategy based on different nutritional approaches and lifestyle changes able to positively modulate the gut microbiota composition. In fact, the restoration of the balance between the different gut bacterial species, the reconstruction of the gut barrier integrity and the control of the release of gut-derived inflammatory neuropeptides, obtained through specific nutritional patterns and lifestyle changes, represent a possible beneficial additive therapy for many migraine subtypes. Herein, this review explores the bi-directional correlation between migraine and the main chronic non-communicable diseases, like diabetes mellitus, arterial hypertension, obesity, cancer and chronic kidney diseases, whose link is represented by gut dysbiosis.

Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related death and it is usually diagnosed in advanced stages (stage III or IV). Recently, the availability of targeted strategies and of immunotherapy with checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) has favorably changed patient prognosis. Treatment outcome is closely related to tumor biology and interaction with the host immune microenvironment (TME). Whether for targeted therapies the response relies on the presence of specific genetic alterations in tumor cells, for ICI accurate biomarkers of response are lacking and clinical outcome likely depends on multiple factors, host and tumor-related. This paper is an overview of the ongoing research on predictive factors both from in-vitro/ex-vivo analysis (ranging from conventional pathology to molecular biology) and in-vivo analysis, where molecular imaging is showing an exponential growth and use due to the technological advancement and to the new bioinformatics approaches applied to image analyses that allow specific features recovery in specific tumor subclones.

We have implemented quantum modeling mainly based on Bohmian Mechanics to study time series that contain strong coupling between their events. Compared to time series with normal densities, such time series are associated with rare events. Hence, employing Gaussian statistics drastically underestimates the occurrence of their rare events. The central objective of this study is to investigate the effects of rare events in the probability densities of time series from the point of view of quantum measurements. For this purpose, we first model the non-Gaussian behavior of time series using the multifractal random walk (MRW) approach. Then, we examine the role of the key parameter of MRW, λ, which controls the degree of non-Gaussianity, in quantum potentials derived for time series. Our Bohmian quantum analysis shows that the derived potential takes some negative values in high frequencies (its mean values), then substantially increases, and the value drops again for rare events. Thus, rare events can generate a potential barrier in the high-frequency region of the quantum potential, and the effect of such a barrier becomes prominent when the system transverses it. Finally, as an example of applying quantum potential beyond the microscopic world, we compute quantum potentials for the S&P financial market time series to verify the presence of rare events in the non-Gaussian densities and demonstrate deviation from the Gaussian case.

The problem of fluid dynamics can be greatly simplified if, for every point in space, the strain-rate tensor is diagonalized. This tensor is introduced into the Navier-Stokes equations via material law and divergence of the stress tensor. This article shows that local SO(3)xU(1) gauge fields can be used to locally diagonalize the diffusion components of the strain-rate tensor. The gauge fields resulting from the connection can be interpreted as convection components of the flow, they show properties of quasiparticles and can be interpreted as elementary vortices. Thus, the proposed approach not only offers new insights for the solution and situative simplification of the Navier-Stokes equations, it also uncovers hidden symmetries within the flow convection, allowing - depending on boundary conditions - further interpretation.

: Image guided superficial radiation therapy (IGSRT) combines superficial radiation therapy (SRT) with full dermal visualization (FDV) via high resolution dermal ultrasound (HRDUS) for the treatment of non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC). The gold standard for IGSRT delivery includes a comprehensive cancer care model with support for the dermatologists by a multidisciplinary team. When delivered in this model, IGSRT can achieve cure rates of 99% for treatment of NMSC. This paper focuses on the benefits of IGSRT during therapy. Medical records from 7 dermatology clinics of 883 patients with 1,507 cases of NMSC treated with IGSRT be-tween 2017 and 2018 were retrospectively reviewed. 92% of the NMSC lesions showed daily depth fluctuations, 60.32% of lesions did not require changes during therapy, and nearly 40% of lesions required at least one compensatory change during therapy. 83% of NMSC lesions were labeled high-risk based on the 2024 NCCN guidelines. Increasing and decreasing tumor depth measurements during IGSRT inform dermatologists when adaptive changes in energy (kV), TDF and dose will result in more efficacy and less toxicity, respectively.

In December 2019, an unusual cluster of pneumonia cases were reported in Wuhan and promptly confirmed to be caused by a new virus known as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) of which the disease it caused would be known as COVID-19. In March 2020, in the absence of any vaccines, and in response to the global spread of SARS-CoV-2 the UK implemented non-pharmaceutical intervention (NPI) measures in the form of a national lockdown to decelerate the spread. Compliance with NPIs can have significant impact on reducing disease transmission however there are currently no studies measuring compliance within the horse ownership world which naturally brings groups of people together during everyday caregiving activities. This article describes the reported horse owner compliance during the COVID-19 pandemic from March 2020 to December 2020 as deduced from 1036 respondents which completed an anonymous online survey between December 30th, 2020 and January 11th, 2021. Where rules/guidance did exist, there was good compliance with 92.76% of respondents indicating that they were following them. The most common rule/guidance implemented was social distancing, which was also the most common rule/guidance to be breached. Riding with others whilst at the yard (hacking or in an arena) and meeting up with non-household members (family and friends) when off the yard were also common rules/guidelines breached. Respondents who kept their horses at either DIY livery, or on a private yard were most likely to breach rules/regulations whereas respondents who kept their horses at full livery were least likely to breach rules/regulations. The results indicate that compliance of horse owners with COVID-19 rules/guidance is high when rules/guidance exists. However, just under half of respondents indicated that there were no rules/guidelines on their yards indicating that there is room for an increased contribution from the horse owning community by encouraging more yards to impose control measures where they currently do not exist.

Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) are notorious foodborne pathogens capable of causing severe diarrhea and other life-threatening complications in humans. Cattle remain a major reservoir and asymptomatic carriers of STEC. In reservoir animals, the rectoanal junction (RAJ) serves as the primary colonization site of STEC playing a critical role in its transmission to humans through contaminated food sources. However, the molecular mechanisms behind the adaptation of STEC in the RAJ of the asymptomatic reservoir host and its subsequent infection of human colonic epithelial cells in an event of a foodborne transmission to cause diarrhea remain largely unexplored. This study aimed to unravel the intricate dynamics of STEC O157:H7 serotype in these two distinct host environments: bovine RAJ cells and human colonic epithelial cells, during initial colonization. In this context, comparative transcriptomics analysis was employed to investigate the differential gene expression profiles of STEC O157:H7 during its interaction with these cell types. The bacterial cells were cultured under controlled conditions to simulate the microenvironments of both bovine RAJ and human colonic epithelial cells. Using high-throughput RNA sequencing, we identified key bacterial genes and regulatory pathways that were significantly modulated in response to each specific host environment. Our findings reveal distinct expression patterns of bacterial genes involved in virulence, including adherence, metal iron homeostasis and stress response in STEC O157:H7 grown in bovine RAJ cells as op-posed to human colonic epithelial cells six hours post-infection. Additionally, the comparative analysis highlights the potential role of certain genes in host adaptation and tissue-specific pathogenicity. Furthermore, this study sheds light on the potential factors contributing to the survival and persistence of STEC O157:H7 in the bovine reservoir, and its ability to colonize in-testinal epithelium and cause disease in humans.

In this work we present the results obtained with an artificial neural network (ANN) which we trained to predict the expected output of high-order harmonic generation (HHG) process, while exploring a multi-dimensional parameter space. We argue on the utility and efficiency of the ANN model and demonstrate its ability to predict the outcome of HHG simulations. In this case study we present the results for a loose focusing HHG beamline, where the changing parameters are: the laser pulse energy, gas pressure, gas cell position relative to focus and gas cell length. The physical quantity which we predict here using ANN is directly related to the total harmonic yield in a specified spectral domain (20-40 eV). We discuss the versatility and adaptability of the presented method.

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) continues to pose a significant global health challenge, with millions of people affected and new cases emerging each year. While various treatment and prevention methods exist, including antiretroviral therapy and non-vaccine approaches, developing an effective vaccine remains the most crucial and cost-effective solution to combat the HIV epidemic. Despite significant advancements in HIV research, the HIV vaccine field has faced numerous challenges, and only one clinical trial has demonstrated a modest level of efficacy. This review delves into the history of HIV vaccines and the current efforts in HIV prevention, emphasizing pre-clinical vaccine development using the non-human primate model (NHP) of HIV infection. NHP models offer valuable insights into potential preventive strategies for combating HIV, and they play a vital role in informing and guiding the development of novel vaccine candidates before they can proceed to human clinical trials.

In the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), education plays a fundamental role. However, traditional methodologies do not favor the enrichment and personal development essential to promote global awareness. The use of active methodologies based on experiences improve the quality of learning. This work describes the design, implementation, and evaluation of the acquired knowledge of a didactic proposal for non-formal education as a support for regulated education based on botany content. Firstly, a workshop was held, where young people participated directly in developing field work with a real scientific methodology. Subsequently, a group of students was chosen to be interviewed to obtain a global vision of the learning they obtained. The motivation of the students was quite positive, which allowed us to obtain voluntary participation in the field work and gave the students a participative attitude throughout the development of the workshops. Four months later, this positive attitude remained during their direct involvement in various activities, and the students still remembered the fundamental content discussed. Relating the didactic proposal to its immediate environment was shown to increase interest in learning and value in its own context. The results of this educational experience have been very positive, as knowledge was acquired, and interest in the preservation of the environment and the profession of a researcher was promoted.

This study demonstrates a global, non-parametric, non-iterative optimization of time-mean value of a kind of index vibrated by time-varying forcing. It is based on the fact that the (steady) forced vibration of non-autonomous ordinary differential equation systems is well approximated by an analytical solution when the amplitude of forcing is sufficiently small and its base state without forcing is linearly stable and steady. It is applied to optimize a time-averaged heat-transfer rate on a two-dimensional thermal convection field in a square cavity with horizontal temperature difference, and the globally optimal way of vibrational forcing, i.e. the globally optimal, spatial distribution of vibrational heat and vorticity sources, is first obtained. The maximized vibrational thermal convection corresponds well to the state of internal gravity wave resonance. In contrast, the minimized thermal convection is weak, keeping the boundary layers on both sidewalls thick.

We present an any-to-one voice conversion (VC) system, using an autoregressive model and LPCNet vocoder, aimed to enhance the converted speech in terms of naturalness, intelligibility, and speaker similarity. As the name implies, non-parallel any-to-one voice conversion does not require paired source and target speeches and can be employed for arbitrary speech conversion tasks. Recent advancements in neural-based vocoders, such as WaveNet, have improved the efficiency of speech synthesis. However, in practice, we find that the trajectory of some generated waveforms is not consistently smooth, leading to occasional voice errors. To address this issue, we propose to use an autoregressive (AR) conversion model along with the high-fidelity LPCNet vocoder. This combination not only solves the problems of waveform fluidity but also produces more natural and clear speech, with the added capability of real-time speech generation. To precisely represent the linguistic content of a given utterance, we use speaker-independent PPG features (SI-PPG) computed from an automatic speech recognition (ASR) model trained on a multi-speaker corpus. Next, a conversion model maps the SI-PPG to the acoustic representations used as input features for the LPCNet. The proposed autoregressive structure enables our system to produce the following prediction step outputs from the acoustic features predicted in the previous step. We evaluate the effectiveness of our system by performing any-to-one conversion pairs between native English speakers. Experimental results show that the proposed method outperforms state-of-the-art systems, producing higher speech quality and greater speaker similarity.

A temperate deep lake, Lake Kuttara, Hokkaido, Japan (148 m deep at maximum) was completely frozen every winter in the 20th century. However, unfrozen conditions of the lake over winter occurred four times in the 21st century, which is probably due to global warming. In order to understand how thermal regime of the lake responds to climate change, its heat storage change was calculated by estimating heat budget of the lake and monitoring water temperature at the deepest point for September 2012–June 2016. As a result, temporal change of the heat storage from the heat budget was very consistent with that from the direct temperature measurement (determination coefficient R² = 0.827). The 1978–2017 data at a meteorological station near Kuttara indicated that there are significant (less than 5% level) long-term trends for air temperature (0.024 °C/yr) and wind speed (−0.010 m/s/yr). A sensitivity analysis for the heat storage from the heat budget estimate and an estimate of return periods for mean air temperature in mid-winter allow us to conclude that the lake could be unfrozen once per about two year in a decade.

Tourism, and particularly residential tourism, has led to a change in the urban and demographic model of towns along the European Mediterranean coastline. Water as a limited and limiting resource for the growth of tourism is a popular topic in the scientific literature. However, the incorporation of non-conventional resources (desalination) has meant, in theory, that this limitation has been overcome. The aims of this paper are: a) to identify the different tourism models implanted in this territory and describe them from the point of view of their consumption of water in the demand cycle from 2002 to 2017; b) analyse the hydrosocial cycle, highlighting the measures aimed at satisfying water demand; and c) identify the limitations associated with these hydrosocial systems. To this end, different types of information will be processed, and various complex indicators produced. The results show the importance that demand management and the use of desalinated water in increasing the resilience of this territory to aridity. However, this has generated other problems associated with a tsunami of construction and the continuity of a non-sustainable territorial model.

Physics and neuroscience share overlapping objectives, the major of which is probably the attempt to reduce the observed universe to a set of rules. The approaches are complementary, attempting to find a reduced description of the universe or of the observer, respectively. We propose here that combining the two approaches within an observer-inclusive physical scheme, bears significant advantages. In such a scheme, the same set of rules applies to the universe and its observers, and the two descriptions are entangled. We show here that analyzing special relativity in an observer-inclusive framework can resolve its contradiction with the observed non-locality of physical interactions. The contradiction is resolved by reducing the universe (including the observer) to a dynamic distribution of closed strings (“ceons”) whose vibration waves travel at c. This ceons model is consistent with general relativity, non-locality, the holographic principle and loop quantum gravity; it also eliminates Zeno’s motion paradoxes. Yet, the model entails several new empirical predictions. Finally, the ceons model suggests a fundamental physical implementation of active biological perception. Paraphrasing Torricelli, this paper suggests that we live submerged in a c of light.

Power disaggregation aims at determining the appliance-by-appliance electricity consumption leveraging upon a single meter only, which measures the entire power demand. Data-driven procedures based on Factorial Hidden Markov Models have been proven remarkable results on energy disaggregation. Nevertheless, those procedures have various weaknesses: there is a scalability problem as the number of devices to observe raises and the algorithmic complexity of the inference step is severe. DNN architectures, such as Convolutional Neural Networks, have demonstrated to be a viable solution to deal with FHMMs shortcomings. Nonetheless, there are two significant limitations: a complicated and time-consuming training system based on back-propagation has to be employed to estimates the neural architecture parameters, and large amounts of training data covering as many operation conditions as possible need to be collected to attain top performances. In this work, we aim to overcome those limitations by leveraging upon the unique and useful characteristics of the extreme learning machine technique, which is based on a collection of randomly chosen hidden units and analytically defined output weights. Experiment evaluation has been conducted using the UK-DALE corpus. We find that the suggested approach achieves similar performances to recently proposed ANN-based methods and outperforms FHMMs. Besides, our solution generalises well to unseen houses.

GCTs are developmental tumors and likely to reflect ontogenetic and teratogenetic determinants. The objective was to identify syndromes with or without congenital anomalies and non-syndromic defects as potential risk factors. Patients with extracranial GCTs (eGCTs) registered in MAKEI 96/MAHO 98 between 1996 and 2017 were used. According to Teilum's holistic concept malignant and benign teratomas were registered. We used a case control study design with Orphanet as a reference group for syndromic defects and the Mainz birth registry (EUROCAT) for congenital anomalies at birth. Co-occurring genetic syndromes and/or congenital anomalies were assessed accordingly. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were calculated and p-values for Fisher’s exact test with Bonferroni correction if needed. A strong association was confirmed for Swyer (OR 338.6, 95% CI 43.7-2623.6) and Currarino syndrome (OR 34.2, 95% CI 13.2-88.6). We additionally found 17 isolated cases of eGCT with a wide range of syndromes, however not significantly associated following Bonferroni correction. All these cases pertained to girls. Regarding non-syndromic defects, no association with eGCTs could be identified. In our study we confirmed a strong association for Swyer and Currarino syndromes with additional congenital anomalies.

The EPR paradox was caused by the provision that quantum variables must have pre-existing values. This type of “hidden property realism” was later falsified by Bell’s Theorem. Accordingly, the physical basis for action-at-a-distance between entangled quanta was removed. Yet, modern interpretations present Bell’s inequality as a Locality Criterion, as if Bell violations can only happen at the quantum level, and only with remote interactions. This is a questionable practice, considering that classical joint measurements also violate such inequalities for mutually exclusive wave properties. In particular, consecutive measurements of polarization produce the same coef-ficients of correlation as parallel measurements with entangled quanta, yet they are explicitly local. Furthermore, it is possible to combine parallel and consecutive measurements of Type I polariza-tion-entangled photons in a single experiment, conclusively showing that quantum Bell violations can be local. Surprisingly, classical phenomena also require nonlocal interpretations if pre-existing properties are taken for granted. Hence, the solution is to reject the models with pre-existing properties for both classical and quantum wave-like phenomena.

A novel interaction between the enzyme platelet-activating factor acetyl hydrolase (PAF-AH) and certain non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as sulindac, celecoxib, diclofenac and nimesulide, has been uncovered by this in-silico research. PAF-AH is known for its critical role in maintaining the fluidity and functionality of cell membranes by hydrolysing phospholipids and removing oxidized fatty acids. Since tumour microenvironments are largely marked by inflammation and oxidative stress, the discovery that these non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs can bind to the active pocket of PAF-AH. Suggests that they may be able to modulate its activity and thereby influence its role in cancer pathogenesis. Such modulation could lead to significant anti-tumour effects, including the reduction of inflammation, the inhibition of angiogenesis and the suppression of metastasis, particularly in cancers of the breast, colon, prostate, and lung. However, in certain con-texts, this interaction may cause the opposite effect, leading to cancer development. Therefore, this study is a gateway for the development of therapeutic strategies based on PAF-AH modulation and highlights the importance of the tumour microenvironment in the assessment of potential effects of NSAIDs. Furthermore, this finding may guide the selection of NSAIDs for the anti-inflammatory treatment of cancer patients, ruling out in-discriminate use of drugs that may promote neoplastic progression. This may also indicate the potential for repositioning specific NSAIDs within cancer treatment, thereby contributing to more precise and personalized therapeutic approaches.

The current research examines the many characteristics of the $\ell_{p}(\widetilde{F}(\widetilde{r},\widetilde{s}))$ $(1\leq p<\infty)$ and $\ell_{\infty}(\widetilde{F}(\widetilde{r},\widetilde{s}))$ spaces which are the generalized forms of those by Candan in 2024 using Fibonacci numbers and two non-zero real numbers in accordance with a predetermined rule, we have made an effort to go through all the characteristics and features which the author of earlier versions thought are the most valuable. This manuscript contains all the information required to describe the matrix class $(\ell_{1},\ell_{p}(\widetilde{F}(\widetilde{r},\widetilde{s})))$ $(1\leq p<\infty)$ which are going to be given in detail in the following sections of the manuscript. We are going to offer estimates for the norms of the bounded linear operators $L_{A}$ formed by those matrix transformations utilizing the Hausdorff measure of non-compactness and identify prerequisites to derive the relevant subclasses of compact matrix operators. When the findings of the current study are compared to those found in the literature, it can be said that the newly found ones are more inclusive and comprehensive.

The main focus when developing software is to improve the reliability and stability of a software system. When software systems are introduced, these systems are used in field environments that are the same as or close to those used in the development-testing environment; however, they may also be used in many different locations that may differ from the environment in which they were developed and tested. In this paper, we propose a new software reliability model that takes into account the uncertainty of operating environments. The explicit mean value function solution for the proposed model is presented. Examples are presented to illustrate the goodness-of-fit of the proposed model and several existing non-homogeneous Poisson process (NHPP) models and confidence intervals of all models based on two sets of failure data collected from software applications. The results show that the proposed model fits the data more closely than other existing NHPP models to a significant extent.

The European Fish Index EFI+ is the only fish-based multimetric index for the assessment of the ecological status of running waters validated and thus applicable across the European Union. Metrics of the index rely on several attributes of the species present in the fish assemblage, irrespective of their native/alien status. The abundance of alien fish, together with other anthropogenic impacts, is one of the most important threats to the conservation of native fish and ecosystem health and is also an indicator of degraded stream conditions. Therefore, to improve the performance and utility of the EFI+ in regions with high incidence of alien species, the EFI+ was adapted to include the alien fish pressure by averaging the two original metrics with a new metric that reflects the number of alien species as well as the proportional abundance of alien individuals. The application of the adapted index (A-EFI+) is illustrated with data from several Iberian Mediterranean basins and showed similar or stronger correlations than the original EFI+ with anthropogenic pressure (land-use variables) and with other regional fish indices. EFI+ has been invaluable to intercalibrate fish indices across Europe and A-EFI+ is similar but explicitly includes the alien pressure, thus helping to provide a more comprehensive assessment of ecosystem health and to communicate it to society.

Although most biological processes are characterized by a strong temporal asymmetry, several popular mathematical models neglect this issue. Maximum entropy methods provide a principled way of addressing time irreversibility, which leverages powerful results and ideas from the3literature of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics. This article provides a comprehensive overview of these issues, with a focus in the case of spike train statistics. We provide a detailed account of the5mathematical foundations and work out examples to illustrate the key concepts and results from non-equilibrium statistical mechanics

The Langmuir isotherm is a widely used model for analyzing adsorption equilibrium data. This study evaluated the efficiency and accuracy of all four linear forms of the Langmuir isotherm and its non-linear form using 67 experimental data sets selected from the literature. The results showed that only if all four linear forms simultaneously show high accuracy, then the non-linear form also shows high accuracy, and therefore it can be said that the process probably follows the Langmuir isotherm. On the contrary, when at least one of the four linear forms of the Langmuir isotherm has low accuracy, it means that the non-linear form also has low accuracy, and it can be concluded that this process does not follow the Langmuir isotherm. This research suggests that all four linear forms of the Langmuir isotherm should be evaluated simultaneously to conclude whether the studied system follows the Langmuir isotherm or not. In other words, relying on only one of the four linear forms of the Langmuir isotherm to model adsorption and calculate the Langmuir constant and maximum adsorption capacity is an incomplete approach, contrary to the conventional approach.

Dissemination of resistant pathogens via food supply chains is a notable public health danger from farm to fork. The proposed work analysed the distribution of E. coli among various sources of animal-based food supply chain. Overall, 500 samples were heaped up from livestock, poultry sectors, environment, fisheries, and dairy. Standard microbiological procedures were used to isolate and identify E. coli. Further, isolates were confirmed by using MALDI-TOF and virulence associated genes (VAGs). The phenotypic resistance pattern of the isolates was determined by molecular identification of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) through PCR using specific primers. Shiga toxin producing E. coli (STEC) were subjected to PCR based O typing using specific primers against different O types. Overall results revealed that 154 (30.5%) samples were confirmed as E. coli, in which77 (50%) isolates were MDR E. coli. Among these, total 52 (67.53%) isolates showed array of VAGs in which 21 (40.38%) were confirmed as STEC based on stx1 and stx2. Furthermore, 12/52 (23.07%) isolates were detected as Non-O157 STEC co-harboring mcr-1 and blaNMD-1. Overall, O26 STEC was found to be the most prevalent among different non-O157 types. Herein, results proposed that detection of such STEC MDR E. coli causing serious public health consequences in developing countries.

Antibiotic-loaded bone cements are widely used in orthopedic surgery. However, they present issues such as a short antibiotic release time and the antibiotic resistance. These challenges necessitate the development of novel antibacterial bone cements. Non-leaching bone cement containing antibacterial motifs represents a promising advancement in this direction. Antibacterial motifs are incorporated into the cement either covalently or non-covalently, and while they will not be released, they will still exhibit surface antibacterial activity. This review comprehensively examines the structure and antimicrobial activity of prevalent non-leaching antimicrobial bone cements. Additionally, it delves into the characteristics of current methods employed for detecting surface antimicrobial activity. Finally, the future research direction of non-leaching antibacterial bone cement is discussed, with a specific focus on innovative antibacterial motifs, the mechanisms underlying non-leaching antibacterial properties, and the potential synergies achievable by combining non-leaching antibacterial bone cement with traditional antibiotics.

Reporting on CSR activities has become the essence of reporting for modern business entities. In this regard, particular attention is paid to public interest companies. Therefore, the following paper aims to answer the question of whether there are differences in the linguistic structure of the studied CSR reports in three selected industry indices on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) in Poland, i.e. WIG-energy index, WIG-fuel index, WIG-mining index and their relationship with the performance of selected companies. The study was conducted on a purposely selected sample of companies between 2013 and 2018. A total of 138 CSR reports and 138 annual separate financial statements prepared in accordance with international balance sheet law were collected. The study was carried out based on a panel regression model. It was found that CSR reports contained similar average percentages of parts of speech such as nouns and adjectives. When linking the economic performance of companies, expressed with selected indices, to the information on the implementation of CSR concepts, it was revealed that the results are more likely to describe business performance when it is satisfactory.

Hereditary hemochromatosis (HH) is the main genetic cause of iron overload and is regarded as metal-related human toxicosis. HH may result from HFE and non-HFE gene mutations causing hepcidin deficiency or hepcidin resistance. The disorder has a high biochemical penetrance, but a low clinical prevalence. Unfortunately, the majority of patients with HH remain undiagnosed at their disease-curable stage. The main aim of HH therapy is to prevent iron overload in the early-phase disease and elimination of excess iron from the body by phlebotomy in its late stage. Raising global awareness of HH among health professionals, their training to pay attention to early HH signs and symptoms, and strict patient monitoring are critical management strategies for preventing treatment delays, upgrading its efficacy, and improving patient prognosis.

.Celiac disease (CeD) is a chronic, autoimmune disorder triggered by the ingestion of gluten, affecting around 1% of the global population. It is a multifactorial disease involving both genetics and environ-mental factors. Nowadays, the only available treatment for CeD is a life-long gluten-free diet (GFD), which can cause a significant burden for patients, since symptoms and mucosal injury can persist de-spite apparent compliance with a GFD. That could also lead to psychological consequences and affect the quality of life of these patients. Thankfully, recent advances in understanding the pathogenesis of CeD and the availability of various targets have made it feasible to explore pharmaceutical treatments specific to CeD. Recently, the FDA has highlighted the unmet needs of adult patients on GFD who expe-rience ongoing symptoms attributed to CeD and also show persistent duodenal villous atrophy. This re-view will outline the limitations of a GFD, describe the targets of potential novel treatment of CeD and provide an overview of the primary clinical trials involving oral and injectable agents for a non-dietary treatment of CeD.

Contrary to the long-held belief that the effects of vaccines are specific for the disease they were created; compelling evidence has demonstrated that vaccines can exert positive or deleterious non-specific effects (NSEs). In this review, we compiled research reports from the last 40 years, showing that live vaccines induce positive NSEs, whereas non-live vaccines induce several negative NSEs, including increased female mortality associated with enhanced susceptibility to other infectious diseases, especially in developing countries. These negative NSEs are determined by the vaccination sequence, the antigen concentration in vaccines, the type of vaccine used (live vs. non-live), and also by repeated vaccination. We do not recommend stopping using non-live vaccines, as they have demonstrated to protect against their target disease, so the suggestion is that their detrimental NSEs can be minimized simply by changing the current vaccination sequence. High IgG4 antibody levels generated in response to repeated inoculation with mRNA COVID-19 vaccines could be associated with a higher mortality rate from unrelated diseases and infections by suppressing the immune system. Since most COVID-19 vaccinated countries are reporting high percentages of excess mortality not directly attributable to deaths from such disease, the NSEs of mRNA vaccines on overall mortality should be studied in depth.

This work promotes new methods in Mathematical Modeling, consisting in the use of the methods of Non-standard Analysis in Topoi, having as its main purpose, the mathematical definitions of the pseudoparticles from the title, with arguments from Biology/Physiology (Mathematical Neuroscience), Physics (String Theory and Emergent Quantum Mechanics), and Cybernetics (Global Brain, including Natural and Artificial Intelligence). The connections between brain and mind will be scketched via the genetic/epigenetic interplay. The topoi model the intuitionistic logic (multi-valued) and have been used in Quantum Physics while Non-Standard Analysis in SET (= the Category of sets) has been applied in Mathematical Economics; topics from Theory of Categories were also used in the study of Consciousness; however, the combination topoi - non-standard analysis was never used until now in Applied Mathematics. Another important objective is to produce progress in this aria of Pure Mathematics also - the build of non-standard analysis in classes of topoi, already used in Physics. We propose the logic of non-standard extensions in topoi as a model of the human thinking (based on infons/receptons), these theories representing new top and very difficult results in Abstract Mathematics either.

Objective: This study aimed to examine the relationship between health structure disparities and hospitalizations and deaths among the pediatric population in different regions. Method: The study employed an ecological time series design, utilizing population-based secondary data ob-tained from DATASUS, from the Brazilian Ministry of Health. The data included in this study encompassed the population aged zero to 19 years, health establishments, physicians working in health establishments, hospitalizations, and deaths related to Morbidities listed in the Interna-tional Classification of Diseases. The focus was explicitly on individuals diagnosed with Cere-bral Palsy and other paralytic syndromes. The data for this study were gathered from January 2018 to December 2021. TABNET was used for data collection, and Excel for tabulation and anal-ysis. Results: Analysis of health structure data across regions revealed notable disparities, par-ticularly in the North and Northeast regions, compared to other regions. These discrepancies prompted a decision to conduct a comparative assessment between these regions and the rest of the country. Conclusion: In the North region, a significant 50% difference in hospitalizations based on residence versus a place of care was observed for individuals with Cerebral Palsy and other paralytic syndromes, indicating the necessity for relocation to access appropriate medical treatment.

Abstract: (1) Background: The relationship between non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and type 2 diabetes (T2DM) is bidirectional: NAFLD increases the risk of T2DM, and T2DM promotes the progression of the disease to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). (2) Material and methods: We performed a retrospective, open study that included 59 patients with NAFLD and T2DM who were distributed into two groups: 44 (74.57%) patients were diagnosed with HS and 15 (25.42%) patients were diagnosed with NASH. (3) Results: Among the non-specific inflammatory biomarkers statistically significant (p=0.003 respectively p=0.03) higher mean values were recorded in patients with NASH and T2DM in the case of ferritin and the neutrophil percentage-to-albumin ratio (NPAR). (4) Conclusions: Consequently, it is essential to identify alternative "surrogate" markers for the inflammatory process, particularly in individuals with diabetes, as it is a key characteristic of NASH. This need arises from the desire to avoid the risks associated with liver biopsy procedures and to prevent the unpredictable and unfavorable progression of NAFLD in patients with T2DM.

The Chebyshev collocation method (ChC) implemented as Chebfun is used in order to solve a class of second order one-dimensional singular and genuinely nonlinear boundary value problems. Efforts to solve these problems with conventional ChC have generally failed, and the outcomes obtained by finite differences or finite elements are seldom satisfactory. We try to fix this situation using the new Chebfun programming environment. However, for toughest problems we have to loosen the default Chebfun tolerance in Newton's solver as the ChC runs into trouble with ill-conditioning of the spectral differentiation matrices. Although in such cases the convergence is not quadratic the Newton updates decrease monotonically. This fact, along with the decreasing behaviour of Chebyshev coefficients of solutions, suggests that the outcomes are trustworthy, i.e., the collocation method has exponential (geometric) rate of convergence or at least an algebraic rate. We consider first a set of problems that have exact solutions or prime integrals and then another set of benchmark problems that do not possess these properties. Actually, for each test problem carried out we have determined how Chebfun solution converges, its length, the accuracy of the Newton method and especially how well the numerical results overlap with the analytical ones (existence and uniqueness).

This paper reviews non-intrusive load monitoring (NILM) approaches that employ deep neural networks to disaggregate appliances from low frequency data, i.e. data with sampling rates lower than the AC base frequency. We first review the many degrees of freedom of these approaches, what has already been done in literature, and compile the main characteristics of the reviewed publications in an extensive overview table. The second part of the paper discusses selected aspects of the literature and corresponding research gaps. In particular, we do a performance comparison with respect to reported MAE and F$_1$-scores and observe different recurring elements in the best performing approaches, namely data sampling intervals below 10\,s, a large field of view, the usage of GAN losses, multi-task learning, and post-processing. Subsequently, multiple input features, multi-task learning and related research gaps are discussed, the need for comparative studies is highlighted, and finally, missing elements for a successful deployment of NILM approaches based on deep neural networks are pointed out. We conclude the review with an outlook on possible future scenarios.

For any odd positive integer $x$, define $(x_n)_{n\geqslant 0} $ and $(a_n )_{n\geqslant 1} $ by setting $x_{0}=x, \,\, x_n =\cfrac{3x_{n-1} +1}{2^{a_n }}$ such that all $x_n $ are odd. The 3x+1 problem asserts that there is an $x_n =1$ for all $x$. Usually, $(x_n )_{n\geqslant 0} $ is called the trajectory of $x$. In this paper, we concentrate on $(a_n )_{n\geqslant 1} $ and call it the E-sequence of $x$. The idea is that, we consider any infinite sequence $(a_n )_{n\geqslant 1} $ of positive integers and call it an E-sequence. We then define $(a_n )_{n\geqslant 1} $ to be $\Omega-$convergent to $x$ if it is the E-sequence of $x$ and to be $\Omega-$divergent if it is not the E-sequence of any odd positive integer. We prove a remarkable fact that the $\Omega-$divergence of all non-periodic E-sequences implies the periodicity of $(x_n )_{n\geqslant 0} $ for all $x_0$. The principal results of this paper are to prove the $\Omega-$divergence of several classes of non-periodic E-sequences. Especially, we prove that all non-periodic E-sequences $(a_n )_{n\geqslant 1} $ with $\mathop {\overline {\lim } }\limits_{n\to \infty } \cfrac{b_n }{n}>\log _23$ are $\Omega-$divergent by using the Wendel's inequality and the Matthews and Watts's formula $x_n =\cfrac{3^n x_0 }{2^{b_n }}\prod\limits_{k=0}^{n-1} {(1+\cfrac{1}{3x_k })} $, where $b_n =\sum\limits_{k=1}^n {a_k } $. These results present a possible way to prove the periodicity of trajectories of all positive integers in the 3x + 1 problem and we call it the E-sequence approach.

This article presents answers to the questions on superresolution and structured illumination microscopy as raised in the editorial of a recent publication [K. Prakash et al. arXiv, 2102.13649, 2021]. The answers are based on my personal views on superresolution in light microscopy, supported by reasoning. Discussed are the definition of superresolution, Abbe’s resolution limit and the classification of superresolution methods into non-linear-, prior-knowledge- and near-field-based superresolution. A further focus is put on capabilities and technical aspects of present and future structured illumination microscopy (SIM) methods.

Financial system is essentially chaotic and unstable if there is not any external inputs. By means of Lyapunov function method, design of switching law, novel fuzzy assumption, $L^p$ estimation technique and Laplace semigroup theory, the author presents the boundedness and LMI-based (globally) asymptotical input-to-state stability criteria of financial systems. Particularly, the globally asymptotical stability in the meaning of switching implies that when the time $t$ is big enough, the dynamic of any subsystem must approach its unique equilibrium point. Besides, the global financial crisis often erupts periodically, which illuminates that the global stability in the classical sense is actually meaningless. So the stability in the meaning of switching proposed in this paper is suitable and appropriate. Numerical examples illuminate the effectiveness of the obtained results.

Sodium glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) are currently available for the management of type 2 diabetes mellitus. SGLT2i act by inhibiting renal SGLT2, thereby increasing glucosuria and lowering serum glucose. Recent trials are emerging supporting a role for SGLT2i irrespective of the diabetic status pointing towards that SGLT2i have other mechanisms of actions beyond blood sugar control. In this review, we will shed light on the role of this group of medications that act as SGLT2i in non-diabetics focusing on pre-clinical and clinical data highlighting the mechanism of renoprotection and effects of SGLT2i in the non-diabetic kidneys.

In a single-center, retrospective study, 22 cases were enrolled and divided into two groups: those who underwent surgical wide excision (group A) and those who did not (group B). The study included 13 cases in group A and 9 cases in group B. In group A, 6 cases solely underwent surgical wide excision, while 7 cases received additional treatments like radiotherapy or chemotherapy. Conversely, in group B, 4 cases received chemotherapy, 4 cases received radiotherapy, and 1 case was managed through observation alone. The mean follow-up time was 60.15 months in group A and 43.44 months in group B, with no significant difference observed. In group A, 9 cases resulted in mortality, whereas 6 cases died within the follow-up period in group B. Lesion-free intervals post-operation were observed predominantly in group A, while 7 cases in group B never experienced freedom from skin lesions. Kaplan-Meier survival curve analysis demonstrated a significant difference between the survival curves of the two groups (P = 0.046). Among non-HIV Kaposi’s sarcoma patients, surgical wide excision appears to have a role in treatment. Patients in group A exhibit a more favorable outcome in the survival curve analysis.

The prevalence of overweight/obesity in the adult population in the Philippines has doubled in the past 20 years. Zumba exercise has recently been implemented throughout the Philippines. However, there is scarce information on the effects of Zumba on obesity and Zumba participants’ characteristics in the Philippines. This study described the current practice of Zumba in the Philippines, along with the practitioners’ characteristics, and identified factors associated with Zumba participation. In this observational, cross-sectional study, a structured questionnaire was used to survey 10 Zumba locations in September 2019. Anthropometric measurements of participants were assessed. Respondents included 171 women (88.6%) and 22 men (11.4%), with a mean (±SD) age of 44.1 (± 8.9) years. All respondents answered that Zumba was enjoyable, and some answered “very enjoyable.” Determinants of frequent participation were as follows: being older than the mean age of participants, starting Zumba to enjoy dancing, starting Zumba not to lose weight, shopping mall location, and participation fee required. “To enjoy dance” being a motivation for Zumba practice was identified as a determinant of frequent participation, rather than “to lose weight.” The element of “enjoyable” may strongly influence continuation and frequent participation of Zumba exercise in the Philippines.

Nonequilibrium work switching simulations and Jarzynski’s equation are a reliable method to compute free energy differences, ΔAlow→high, between two levels of theory, such as a pure molecular mechanical (MM) and a quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical (QM/MM) description of a system of interest. Despite the inherent parallelism, the computational cost of this approach can quickly get very high. This is particularly true for systems where the core region, the part of the system to be described at different levels of theory, is embedded in an environment, such as explicit solvent water. We find that even for relatively simple solute–water systems, switching lengths of at least 5 ps are necessary to compute ΔAlow→high reliably. In this study, we investigate two approaches towards an affordable protocol, with emphasis on keeping the switching length well below 5 ps. Inserting a hybrid charge intermediate state with modified partial charges which resembles the charge distribution of the desired high level makes it possible to obtain reliable calculations with 2 ps switches. Attempts using step-wise linear switching paths, on the other hand, did not lead to improvement, i.e., faster convergence for all systems. To understand these findings, we analyzed the solutes’ properties as a function of partial charges used, the number of waters in direct contact with the solute, and studied the time needed for water molecules to reorient themselves upon a change in the solute’s charge distribution.

Abstract: Global ecological concern regarding the transfer of fouling organisms to ship hulls is increasing. This study investigated the species composition, dominant species, distribution patterns, community structure, and life-cycle differences of hull-fouling macroinvertebrates on five research vessels (R/Vs: Isabu, Onnuri, Eardo, Jangmok 1, and Jangmok 2) operated by the Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology (KIOST). Hull-fouling macroinvertebrates were collected three to five times on quadrats from the upper and middle sectors of the hull sides, bottom, and niche areas (the propellers and shafts and the thrusters). A total of 47 macroinvertebrate species were identified, represented by 8,519 individuals(ind.)/m2 and a biomass of 1,967 gWWt/m2 on the five vessels. The number of species, density, and biomass were greater on the coastal vessels the Eardo, Jangmok 1, and Jangmok 2 than on the ocean-going vessels the Isabu and Onnuri. Among the coastal vessels, barnacles were the most abundant and had the greatest density, while mollusks had the highest biomass. Differences between hull sectors showed that the highest species abundance and density appeared on all hulls in ports and bays where the Jangmok 1 operated, while the highest species abundance, density, and biomass were identified in the niche areas of the Eardo, which operated farther from the coast. The hull-fouling macroinvertebrates that exceeded 1% of all organisms were the barnacles Amphibalanus amphitrite, Balanus trigonus, and Amphibalanus improvisus; the polychaete Hydroides ezoensis; the bivalves Magallana gigas and Mytilus galloprovincialis; and the amphipod Jassa slatteryi. The dominant species were cosmopolitan and globally distributed, and many of them were cryptogenic. Six native species were identified: M. gigas, H. ezoensis, the amphipod Melita koreana, the isopod Cirolana ko-reana, and the barnacle B. trigonus and F. kondakovi. Eight non-indigenous species (NIS) were de-tected: barnacles A. amphitrite and A. improvisus, the bivalve M. galloprovincialis, the polychaete Perinereis nuntia, amphipods J. slatteryi and Caprella californica, and bryozoans Bugulina californica and Bugula neritina. Of the fouling macroinvertebrates found on the vessel hulls, 13% were native and 17% were NIS. The nMDS ordination analysis of the five vessels showed four clusters of fouling macroinvertebrate communities: two ocean clusters (the Isabu and Onnuri), one coastal cluster (the Eardo and Jangmok 2), and one local cluster (the Jangmok 1). More diverse communities developed on the hulls of vessels that operated locally rather than globally or in deep oceans. Spearman rank correlation showed that biological indices such as number of species, density, and biomass correlated highly and positively with the numbers of days on coastal operations and negatively with the number days on ocean operations. The species diversity index correlated positively with the total number of anchoring days and coastal operation days and negatively with the total number of operation days and ocean operation days. The macroinvertebrates differed by the area of operation, the port of anchorage, the number of days in operation and at anchor, and the hull sectors. There is no previous research data on hull-fouling macroinvertebrates in the Republic of Korea, and this study provides a basis for future studies to identify introduced species and their differences based on operation area.

The heat release response of the flame to acoustic excitation is a critical factor for understanding combustion instability. In the present work, the nonlinear heat release response of a methane-air non-premixed flame to the low frequency acoustic excitations is experimentally investigated. The flame describing function (FDF) was measured based on the overall CH* chemiluminescence intensity and the velocity fluctuations obtained by two-microphone method. The CH* chemiluminescence images and the schlieren images were analyzed to reveal the mechanism of nonlinear response. The excitation frequency ranges from 10Hz to 120Hz. The forced relative velocity fluctuation amplitude ranges from 0.10 to 0.50. The corresponding flame Strouhal number (Stf) ranges from 0.43 to 4.67. The study has shown that the flame length responds more sensitively to changes in excitation amplitude when subjected to relatively high frequency excitations. The normalized flame length (Lf/D) decreases from 3.79 to 2.37 with the increase of excitation amplitude at excitation frequency of 100Hz. The number of oscillation zones along the flame increases with increasing excitation frequency, which is consistent with the increase of the Stf. The low-pass filtering characteristic of FDF is caused by the dispersion of multiple oscillation zones, as well as the cancellation effect of the adjacent oscillation zones under relatively high frequency excitation. The cancellation effect of the positive and negative oscillation zones with various Stf is main mechanism for the local gain peak and valley. When two adjacent oscillation regions have approximate amplitudes, the overall phase-lag becomes more sensitive to changes in excitation frequency and amplitude. This sensitivity leads to nonlinear anomalous changes in the phase-lag near the frequency corresponding to the gain valley. The calculated disturbance convection time is consistent with the measured time delay in the short flame scenario. Future research is necessary to establish whether the observed agreement occurs due to the oscillation zone consistently occurring proximate to the flame's center of mass, coupled with a precise determination of the average convective velocity.

Worldwide, the cesarean section rate has steadily increased from 6.7% in 1990 to 21.1% in 2018 and is expected to rise even more. World Health Organization propose the adoption of the Robson classification system as a global standard for monitoring, evaluating, and comparing delivery rates. The purpose of the current study is to use the Robson classification system to investigate how, independently of medical factors, the day of the week and time of delivery may affect the mode of birth. In the sample analysis, we included the records of 8572 women giving birth in one private health facility in Greece. Over 60% of deliveries during the study period were performed by a cesarean section and 8.5% of deliveries were performed by operative vaginal delivery. The results of this study indicate that the lowest birth rates are observed on Monday, Saturday, and Sunday. In Robson category 1 women are 73% more likely to deliver by cesarean section between 08:00 a.m. - 03:59 p.m. compared to those who give birth between 12:00 a.m. - 07:59 a.m. Also, women in group 5.1 are 16.7 times more likely to deliver by cesarean section in the morning compared to overnight deliveries. These result point out two non-clinical variables that influences the CS rate. The Robson classification system was a useful tool for the above comparisons.

Mycobacterium avium ssp paratuberculosis (MAP) is the causative agent of Johne’s disease (JD) in animals and a suspected cause of Crohn’s disease (CD) in humans. Crohn’s Disease is a progressive, detrimental granulomatous enteritis of which common therapies are targeted to suppressing certain components of the immune system. The efficacy of these treatments can be variable and temporary with no clear process of selection for the individual patient. However, diagnosis of MAP has been elusive in patients with Crohn’s Disease. In animals it can be detected by several different techniques, including bacterial cell culture, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and immunological targets. To move to an understanding of the possible pathogenicity of MAP and the sup-posed cause of CD in humans, it is necessary to demonstrate the presence of cell wall deficient mycobacterial (CWDM) forms of MAP in blood and tissue cultures from patients with CD. From this, more tailored and accurate therapies can be implemented and be developed to eradicate this infectious organism from humans. Current anti-mycobacterial antibiotics have limited efficacy as MAP is subtly different from tuberculosis. Newer methods, such as vaccination and gut microbiome remediation will be essential as part of combination therapies.

The prevalence of Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) in South Africa is increasing annually, with the burden projected to escalate by 2030. Devastatingly, factors such as lifestyle changes, urbani- sation, and an aging population significantly contribute to a rising burden of Cardiovascular disease (CVDs), diabetes, and cancer which directly impact the mortality and morbidity rates seen in South Africa. Recognising this, the South African government has seen the need for emphasis on developing policies and interventions tar- geting physical inactivity to prevent and manage NCD, particularly cost-free and easy to administer training protocols. However, phys- ical inactivity remains a significant issue, leading to various health concerns in rural communities, including injuries and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD). Despite effort to promote physical ac- tivity, the prevalence of NCDs continues to rise, necessitating target- ed interventions to ensure equitable healthcare among South African citizens. On the Contrast, preservation and promotion of traditional games is vital as they offer indigenous populations accessible and culturally relevant means to maintain health and wellness. In this regard, it is important to recognize the importance of preserving and promoting traditional games as they potentially serve as a method for indigenous people to maintain their health and wellness in a way that is accessible and culturally relevant to them. These games have gained popularity in South Africa, with initiatives underway to show- case them globally fostering cultural exchange. Further, revitalizing and conserving these games can cultivate a culture of health and wellbeing in South Africa.

Soft-matter systems when driven out-of-equilibrium often give rise to structures that usually lie in-between the macroscopic scale of the material and microscopic scale of its constituents. In this paper we review three such systems, the two-dimensional square-lattice Ising model, the Kuramoto model and the Rayeligh-Bénard convection system which when driven out-of-equilibrium give rise to emergent spatio-temporal order through self-organization. A common feature of these systems is that the entities that self-assemble are coupled to one another in some way, either through local interactions or through a continuous media. Therefore, the general nature of non-equilibrium fluctuations of the intrinsic variables in these systems are found to follow similar trends as order emerges. Through this paper, we attempt to look for connections between among these systems and systems in general which give rise to emergent order when driven out-of-equilibrium.

Field and numerical investigations at Happisburgh, East coast of England, UK, sought to characterize beach thickness and determine geologic framework controls on coastal change. After a major failure of coastal protection infrastructure, removal of about 1 km of coastal defense along the otherwise protected cliffed coastline of Happisburgh triggered a period of rapid erosion over 20 years of ca. 140 m. Previous sensitivity studies suggested that that beach thickness plays a major role in coastal recession. These studies were limited, however, by a lack of beach volume data. In this study, we have integrated the insights gained from our understanding of the Quaternary geology of the area, a novel non-intrusive passive seismic survey method, and a 3D novel representation of the subsurface source and transportable material into a coastal modelling environment to explore the role of beach thickness on the back wearing and down wearing of the cliffs and consolidated platform, respectively. Results show that beach thickness is non-homogeneous along the study site: we estimate that the contribution to nearshore sediment budget via platform down wearing is of a similar order of magnitude as sediment lost from the beach and therefore non-negligible. We have provided a range of evidence to support the idea that the Happisburgh beach is a relatively thin layer perched on a sediment rich platform of sand and gravel. This conceptualization differs from previous publications, which assumes that the platform was mostly till and fine material. This has direct implication on the regional sediment management of along this coastline. The present study contributes to our understanding of a poorly known aspect of coastal sediment budgeting and outlines a quantitative approach that allows for simple integration of geological understanding for coastline evolution assessments worldwide.

Vibration measurement serves as the basis for various engineering practices such as natural frequency or resonant frequency estimation. As image acquisition devices become cheaper and faster, vibration measurement and frequency estimation through image sequence analysis continue to receive increasing attention. In the conventional photogrammetry and optical methods of frequency measurement, vibration signals are first extracted before implementing the vibration frequency analysis algorithm. In this work, we demonstrated that frequency prediction can be achieved using a single feed-forward convolutional neural network. The proposed method is verified using a vibration signal generator and excitation system, and the result obtained was compared with that of an industrial contact vibrometer in a real application. Our experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can achieve acceptable prediction accuracy even in unfavorable field conditions.

Non-pneumatic tires have gained a lot of attention due to their advantages, including not having to worry about getting a flat tire. In this type of tire, metamaterial cells replace the pneumatic part of the tire. In general, metamaterials are formed by stacking cells together. These cells are obtained by various methods including topology optimization. Therefore, in this research, to achieve a metamaterial cell suitable for a non-pneumatic tire with the objective function of increasing compressive strength and bending fatigue life, optimization for three types of geometry including (1) square plane, (2) rectangular plane, and (3) entire circumference of tire and three types of material including polylactic acid (PLA), thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) and void have been done. Optimization has been implemented by using MATLAB code in 2D mode. The cubic cell is obtained from extruding the optimized response of the square plane. From the optimized response of the rectangular plane, the cylindrical cell and from extruding the optimized response of the entire circumference of tire to the tire cross-section size, the main geometry of the tire has been calculated. Finally, to check the quality of 3D printing in producing cells and how they are connected, the optimal cell fabricated by the fused deposition modeling (FDM) method has been observed using a field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). The results show that in the optimization of the square plane, the sample with the minimum remaining weight constraint equal to 40% and in the optimization of the rectangular plane and the entire circumference of tire, the sample with the minimum remaining weight constraint equal to 60% was selected as the optimal sample. From checking the quality of 3D printing, it has been concluded that PLA and TPU materials are completely connected.

Unicellular eukaryotes of the Trypanosomatidae family include human and animal pathogens that belong to the Trypanosoma and Leishmania genera. Diagnosis of the diseases they caused requires the sampling of body fluids (blood, lymph, peritoneal fluid, cerebrospinal fluid, etc.) or organ biopsies (bone marrow, spleen, etc.), which are mostly obtained through invasive methods. Body fluids or appendages can be alternatives to these invasive biopsies but appropriateness remains poorly studied. To further address this question, we perform a systematic review on clues evidencing the presence of parasites, genetic material, antibodies, and antigens in body secretions, appendages, or the organs or proximal tissues that produce these materials. Paper selection was based on searches in PubMed, Web of Science, WorldWideScience, SciELO, Embase, Google. The information of each selected article (n=333) was classified into different sections and data were extracted from 77 papers. The presence of Trypanosomatidae parasites has been tracked in most of organs or proximal tissues that produce body secretions or appendages, in naturally or experimentally infected hosts. The meta-analysis highlights the paucity of studies on Human African Trypanosomiasis and a the absence on animal Trypanosomiasis. Among the collected data high heterogeneity in terms of the I² statistic (100%) is recorded. A high positivity is recorded for antibody and genetic material detection in urine of patients and dogs suffering leishmaniasis, and of antigen for leishmaniasis and Chagas disease. Data on conjunctival swab can be analyzed with molecular methods solely for dogs suffering canine visceral leishmaniasis. Saliva and hair/bristle showed a pretty good positivity that support their potential to be used for leishmaniasis diagnosis. In conclusion, our study pinpoints significant gaps that need to be filled in order to properly address the interest of body secretion and hair or bristle for the diagnosis of infections caused by Leishmania and by other Trypanosomatidae parasites.

Despite the well-documented health benefits of recreational sports, few opportunities exist in lower- and middle-income countries for adult women to participate in recreational physical activities. An explanatory sequential mixed methods approach was used to explore associations between an innovative soccer program for adult women and self-reported health status. Cross-sectional survey data were collected in 2018-2019 from 702 women in the Nikumbuke Project, a health and literacy program in southeastern rural Kenya, followed by focus group discussions with 225 women who also participated in the Project's soccer program. Quantitative findings suggest that women who participated in soccer had 67% greater odds of reporting good or excellent health than their non-soccer playing peers. Thematic analysis of qualitative data indicated that women credited soccer with less pain, fatigue, and stress, as well as weight loss and reduced dependence on medicine for hypertension, pain, and sleep problems. Women equated health benefits with greater ease and efficiency in completing chores, reduced worries, youthful energy, male-like strength, and pleased husbands. Soccer programs for adult women may be particularly effective interventions in settings where access to health care is limited and where lack of opportunity to engage in physical aerobic activity increases women's risks for poor health outcomes. .

The differential transformation, an approach based on Taylor's theorem, is proposed as convenient for finding exact or approximate solution to the initial value problem with multiple Caputo fractional derivatives of generally non-commensurate orders. The multi-term differential equation is first transformed into a multi-order system and then into a system of recurrence relations for coefficients of formal fractional power series. The order of the fractional power series is discussed in relation to orders of derivatives appearing in the original equation. Application of the algorithm to an initial value problem results in a reliable and expected outcome.

Recently, the properties of bouncing oil droplets, also known as `walkers', have attracted much attention because they are thought to offer a gateway to a better understanding of quantum behaviour. They indeed constitute a macroscopic realization of wave-particle duality, in the sense that their trajectories are guided by a self-generated surrounding wave. The aim of this paper is to try to describe walker phenomenology in terms of de Broglie-Bohm dynamics and of a stochastic version thereof. In particular, we first study how a stochastic modification of the de Broglie pilot-wave theory, à la Nelson, affects the process of relaxation to quantum equilibrium, and we prove an H-theorem for the relaxation to quantum equilibrium under Nelson-type dynamics. We then compare the onset of equilibrium in the stochastic and the de Broglie-Bohm approaches and we propose some simple experiments by which one can test the applicability of our theory to the context of bouncing oil droplets. Finally, we compare our theory to actual observations of walker behavior in a 2D harmonic potential well.

Forest community connections are crucial to ensure forest stewardship and sustainability. We explored the potential of mushrooming to enable such connections in contexts where these connections have been historically broken, alienating local people from forests. Taking the case of the recent devolution of a community forest (baldios) in central Portugal to the local population, we present a five-year pilot project to rework mycology from a mushroom-centered approach to a mushroom-in-baldios approach. Mushrooms were used as an entry-point to connect the forest ecology with the challenges of governance and community building. The devised activities provided an opportunity for people inside and outside the local community to adventure into the woods and find out more about their socio-ecological history, develop communal and convivial relationships and engage in the responsible gathering of wild mushrooms. However, the hosting of mushroomers to know, value and engage with the community forest recovery has constantly working against the enclosure of mushrooms to provide marketable forms of leisure. The outcome of these activities depends on the relationships established between mushrooms, mycologists, local administrators, commoners and poachers, all operating within a framework that favors the eradication of resources instead of long-term relationships that sustain places.

: Studies on the effects of non-nutritive sweeteners (NNSs) in pregnant women are scarce are conflicting. A major challenge is to accurately assess NNS intake, especially in countries where many foods and beverages have been reformulated with the progressive replacement of sugar by NNSs, due to the implementation of new nutrition labelling policies for preventing obesity. This study aimed to develop and valid a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) to examine the intake of NNSs in pregnant women. This questionnaire was tested in 29 women in their eighth month of gestation, compared to a 3-day dietary records (3-DR). FFQ validity was assessed using Spearman´s correlation coefficient, Lin´s concordance correlation coefficient (CCC) and Bland-Altman plots. Spearman correlations between NNS FFQ and 3-DR ranged from 0.50 for acesulfame K to 0.83 for saccharin. The CCC ranged from 0.22 to 0.66. Bland-Altman plots showed an overestimation of saccharin, sucralose and steviol glycosides intake by the NNS FFQ, and an underestimation of acesulfame K and aspartame, compared to 3-DR. Overall, the most frequently consumed NNS was sucralose None of the participants exceeded the acceptable daily intake for any of the NNSs evaluated. The FFQ of NNSs appears to be a reasonably valid tool for assessing NNS consumption in pregnant women.

Emotion recognition is becoming very relevant in educational scenarios, since previous research has proven the strong influence of emotions on the student's engagement and motivation. There is no standard method for stating student's affect, but physiological signals have been widely used in educational contexts. Physiological signals have been proved to offer high accuracy in detecting emotions because they reflect spontaneous affect-related information, and which is fresh and do not require an additional control or interpretation. However, most proposed works use measuring equipment that limit its applicability in real-world scenarios because of their high cost and their intrusiveness. Expensive material means an economic challenge for schools and reduce the scalability of the experiments. Intrusive equipment can be uncomfortable for the students which can lead to errors in the collected data. In this work, we analyse the feasibility of developing a low-cost non-intrusive device that integrates easy-to-capture signals that guarantee high detection accuracy. The advantage of the approach also lies in using user’s centred information sources (intra-subject) in real-world situations, which provide better detection accuracy, by offering models adapted to each subject. To this end, we present an experimental study that aims to explore the potential application of Hidden Markov Models (HMM) to predict the concentration state from 4 commonly used physiological signals, namely heart rate, breath rate, skin conductance and skin temperature. We study the multi-fusion of every possible combination of these four signals and analyse their potential use in an educational context in terms of intrusiveness, cost and accuracy. Results show that a high accuracy can be achieved with three of the signals when using HMM-based intra-subject models. However, inter-subject models, which are meant to obtain subject-independent approaches for affect detection, fail at the same task. This work concludes that the implementation of a low-cost wrist-worn device for recognising relevant emotions from each student is possible and open the way to a wide range of practical applications in the context of adaptive learning systems.

Recent results have shown that the human malaria-resistant hemoglobin S mutation originates de novo more frequently in the gene and in the population where it is of adaptive significance, namely, in the hemoglobin subunit beta gene compared to the non-resistant but otherwise identical 20A>T mutation in the hemoglobin subunit delta gene, and in sub-Saharan Africans, who have been subject to intense malarial pressure for many generations, compared to Northern Europeans, who have not. This finding raises a fundamental challenge to the traditional notion of accidental mutation. Here we address this finding with the replacement hypothesis, according to which pre-existing genetic interactions can lead directly and mechanistically to mutations that simplify and replace them. Thus, a gradual evolutionary process under selection can hone in on interactions of importance for the currently evolving adaptations, from which large-effect mutations follow that are relevant to these adaptations. We exemplify this hypothesis using multiple types of mutation, including gene fusion mutations, gene duplication mutations, A>G mutations in RNA-edited sites and transcription-associated mutations, and place it in the broader context of a system-level view of mutation origination called Interaction-based Evolution. Potential consequences include that similarity of mutation pressures may contribute to parallel evolution in genetically related species, that the evolution of genome organization may be driven by mutational mechanisms, that transposable element movements may also be explained by replacement, and that long-term directional mutational responses to specific environmental pressures are possible. Such responses need to be further tested by future studies in natural and artificial settings.

Covid-19 pandemic lockdown has slow down the world economic system. The pandemic has cleared the roads, close factories and grounded planes causing severe economic challenges. The damaging impact of the pandemic amid lockdown has been a blessing in guise for the environment because of significant drop in pollution level as transport and industrial sectors shutdown. Transport and industrial sectors are major contributors to environmental degradation through various emissions as a result of fossil fuel consumption. Energy consumed by transport and industrial sectors will have to shift to viable, readily available, economically and environmentally friendly with no carbon build up post Covid-19 pandemic. Hydrogen energy remains the best alternative option technologies containing green house gas emission and pollutions of several forms. Hydrogen holds the potential to provide a clean, reliable, renewable and economical source of energy for meeting the growing and unending global energy needs post pandemic. The present paper explores the economic feasibility and potential of hydrogen to serve as a competitive fuel option post pandemic. In this paper, the role of hydrogen as an energy carrier hydrogen economy structure, potential of hydrogen economy, hydrogen production methods, hydrogen application and the economic and environmental importance of hydrogen as a viable fuel option post covid-19 pandemic were discussed. There will be a surge in demand and investment for hydrogen economy post Covid-19.

The classical approach to non-linear regression in physics, is to take a mathematical model describing the functional dependence of the dependent variable from a set of independent variables, and then, using non-linear fitting algorithms, extract the parameters used in the modeling. Particularly challenging are real systems, characterised by several additional influencing factors related to specific components, like electronics or optical parts. In such cases, to make the model reproduce the data, empirically determined terms are built-in the models to compensate for the impossibility of modeling things that are, by construction, impossible to model. A new approach to solve this issue is to use neural networks, particularly feed-forward architectures with a sufficient number of hidden layers and an appropriate number of output neurons, each responsible for predicting the desired variables. Unfortunately, feed-forward neural networks (FFNNs) usually perform less efficiently when applied to multi-dimensional regression problems, that is when they are required to predict simultaneously multiple variables that depend from the input dataset in fundamentally different ways. To address this problem, we propose multi-task learning (MTL) architectures. These are characterized by multiple branches of task-specific layers, which have as input the output of a common set of layers. To demonstrate the power of this approach for multi-dimensional regression, the method is applied to luminescence sensing. Here the MTL architecture allows predicting multiple parameters, the oxygen concentration and the temperature, from a single set of measurements.

Radio loud active galactic nuclei are composed of different spatial features, each one characterized by different spectral properties in the radio band. Among them, blazars are the most common class of sources detected at gamma-rays by \fermi, and their radio emission is dominated by the flat spectrum compact core. In this contribution, we explore the connection between emission at high energy revealed by \fermi\ and at radio frequency. Taking as a reference the strong and very highly significant correlation found between gamma rays and cm-$\lambda$ radio emission, we explore different behaviours found as we change the energy range in gamma rays and in radio, therefore changing the physical parameters of the zones involved in the radiation emission. We find that the correlation weakens when we consider (1) gamma rays of energy above 10 GeV (except for high synchrotron peaked blazars) or (2) low frequency radio data taken by the Murchison Widefield Array; on the other hand, the correlation strengthens when we consider mm-$\lambda$ data taken by ALMA.

Peanuts, owing to their composition of complex carbohydrates, plant protein, unsaturated fatty acids, and essential minerals (magnesium, iron, zinc, and potassium), hold significant potential as a vital component of the human diet. Additionally, their low water requirements and nitrogen fixation capacity make them an appropriate choice for cultivation in adverse environmental conditions. The germination ability of seeds profoundly impacts the final yield of the crop, assessing seed viability of extreme importance. Conventional methods for assessing seed viability and germination are both time-consuming and costly. To address these challenges, this study investigated Visible-Near Infrared Spectroscopy (Vis/NIR) in the wavelength range of 500-1030 nm as a non-destructive and rapid method to determine the viability of two varieties of peanut seeds: North Carolina-2 (NC-2) and Spanish flower (Florispan). The study subjected the seeds to three levels of artificial aging through heat treatment, involving incubation in a controlled environment at a relative humidity of 85% and a temperature of 50°C over 24-hour intervals. The absorbance spectra noise was significantly mitigated and corrected to a large extent by combining the Savitzky-Golay (SG) and Multiplicative Scatter Correction (MSC) methods. To identify the optimal wavelengths for seed viability assessment, a range of meta-heuristic algorithms were employed, including world competitive contest (WCC), league championship algorithm (LCA), Genetics (GA), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), Ant Colony Optimization (ACO), imperialist competitive algorithm (ICA), learning automata (LA), heat transfer optimization (HTS), forest optimization (FOA), discrete symbiotic organisms search (DSOS), and cuckoo optimization (CUK). These algorithms offer powerful optimization capabilities for effectively extracting relevant wavelength information from spectral data. Results revealed that all the algorithms demonstrated remarkable accuracy in predicting the allometric coefficient of seeds, achieving correlation coefficients exceeding 0.985 and errors below 0.0036, respectively. In terms of execution time, the ICA (2.3635 seconds) and LCA (44.9389 seconds) algorithms exhibited the most and least efficient performance, respectively. Conversely, the FOA and the LCA algorithms excelled in identifying the least number of optimal wavelengths (10 wavelengths). Subsequently, the seeds were classified based on the wavelengths selected by the FOA (10 wavelengths) and (DSOS (16 wavelengths) methods, in conjunction with logistic regression (LR), decision tree (DT), Multilayer Perceptron (MP), support vector machine (SVM), k-nearest neighbor (K-NN), and NaiveBayes (NB) classifiers. The DSOS-DT and FOA-MP methods demonstrated the highest accuracy, yielding values of 0.993 and 0.983, respectively. Conversely, the DSOS-LR and DSOS-KNN methods obtained the lowest accuracy, with values of 0.958 and 0.961, respectively. Overall, our findings demonstrated that Vis/NIR spectroscopy, coupled with variable selection algorithms and learning methods, presents a suitable and non-destructive approach for detecting seed viability.

Background: Migraine is one of the most common health conditions in the reproductive male and female population. Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is a common condition that affects many women during their menstrual cycle. around 50 to 60% have menstrual headaches among the migraineur women. The symptoms in the majority were mild, but 5–8% may suffer moderate to severe symptoms, accompanied by considerable distress or functional dysfunction. Premenstrual migraine (PMM) refers to migraines that occur with the menstrual cycle. It affects approximately 50% of women with migraine and can be debilitating in terms of both frequency and severity of symptoms. This information is important for medical professionals in Saudi Arabia to be aware of so, as to provide better medical care and support which can significantly improve the person's quality of life of women who suffer from PMS and menstrual migraines. Objectives: To estimate the prevalence of menstrual migraines in women, to evaluate the severity and frequency of menstrual migraines in women with PMS, and to identify potential risk factors aggravating menstrual migraines in women with PMS. Methodology: A cross-sectional community-based study was conducted on reproductive age (18-50Years) women who have regular menstrual cycles with experience migraine headaches and are diagnosed with PMS and menstrual migraine, using a self-administered questionnaire between December 2022 to May 2023 in Saudi Arabia. Results: Out of 2130 women participants 397 were suffering from migraine which is 18.6%. Of the total 397(18.6%) Migraineurs individuals 230 (57.9%) were suffering from menstrual migraine and 167 (42.1%) were non-menstrual migraineurs, in general, reproductive women menstrual migraine is 10.7% and non-menstrual migraine is 7.8%. The BMI is increasing the incidence of menstrual migraines is increasing. Migraine Disability Around one-third of the participants were suffering from III–moderate disability 134 (33.8) Most of the menstrual migraine victims at least 3 days in the last three months were absent from their duties due to their menstrual migraines. Conclusions: Migraine attacks during the menstrual cycle cause the impairment of their social and physical ability to perform their routine household, and academic activities and unable to fulfill their professional commitments. To better understand the Menstrual Migraine and Non-menstrual migraine large prospective studies are required to plan the best management methods.

In this paper, we present an extended version of the Hadi-Vencheh model for multiple criteria ABC inventory classification. The proposed model is a nonlinear weighted product model (WPM) which determines a common set of weights for all the items. Our proposed nonlinear WPM incorporates multiple criteria with different measure units, without converting the performance of each inventory item in terms of each criterion into a normalized attribute value, thereby providing an improvement over the model proposed by Hadi-Vencheh. Our study mainly includes various criteria for ABC classification, and demonstrates an efficient algorithm for solving nonlinear programming problems in which the feasible solution set does not have to be convex. The algorithm presented in this study improves the solution efficiency of the Canonical Coordinates Method (CCM) algorithm substantially when applied to large scale, nonlinear programming problems. The modified algorithm was tested to compare our proposed model results to the results derived using the Hadi-Vencheh model and demonstrate the algorithm's efficacy. The practical implications of the study are to develop an efficient nonlinear optimization solver by optimizing the quality of existing solutions, thus improving time and space efficiency.

Goal of this article is to provide the numerical and experimental assessments of an effective near-field to far-field transformation (NF–FF T) technique with planar spiral scanning for flat antennas under test (AUTs), which requires a non-redundant, i.e. minimum, amount of NF measurements. This technique has its roots in the theory of non-redundant sampling representations of electromagnetic fields and has been devised by suitably applying the unified theory of spiral scans for non-volumetric antennas to the case in which the considered AUT is modeled by a circular disk having its radius equal to one half the AUT maximum dimension. It makes use of a 2-D optimal sampling interpolation (OSI) formula to accurately determine the massive NF data required by the classical plane-rectangular NF–FF T technique from the non-redundant ones gathered along the spiral. It must be emphasized that, when considering flat AUTs, the developed transformation allows to further and significantly save measurement time as compared to that needed by the previously developed NF–FF T techniques with planar spiral scans based on the quasi-planar antennas modelings, because the number of turns of the spiral and that of NF data to be acquired depend somehow on the area of the modeling surface. The reported numerical simulations assess the accuracy of the proposed NF–FF T technique, whereas the experimental tests prove its practical feasibility.

Ferns and lycophytes, now known as monilophytes, have received scant molecular attention in comparison to angiosperms. The advent of high-throughput technologies allowed an advance towards a greater knowledge of their elusive genomes. In this work, proteomic analyses of heart-shaped gametophytes of two ferns were performed: the apomictic species Dryopteris affinis ssp. affinis and its sexual relative Dryopteris oreades. In total, a set of 218 proteins shared by these two gametophytes were analyzed using the STRING database, and the proteome associated with metabolism, genetic information processing, and responses to abiotic stress is discussed. Specifi-cally, we report proteins involved in the metabolism of carbohydrates, lipids, and nucleotides, the biosynthesis of amino acids, and secondary compounds, energy, oxido-reduction, transcrip-tion, translation, protein folding, sorting and degradation, and responses to abiotic stress. Look-ing at the interactome of this set of proteins, it represents a total network composed of 218 nodes and 1,792 interactions, obtained mostly from databases and textmining. The interactions among the identified proteins of the ferns D. affinis and D. oreades, together with the description of their biological functions, might contribute to a better understanding of the function and develop-ment of ferns as well as to fill knowledge gaps in plant evolution.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are membrane-bound particles released from cells, and their cargo can alter the function of recipient cells. EVs from X-irradiated cells have been shown to play a likely role in non-targeted effects. However, EVs derived from proton irradiated cells have not yet been studied. We aimed to investigate and compare the proteome of EVs and their cell of origin after proton or X-irradiation. The EVs were derived from a human oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) cell line exposed to 0, 4, or 8 Gy with either protons or X-rays. The EVs and irradiated OSCC cells underwent liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry for protein identification. Interestingly, we found different protein profiles both in the EVs and in the OSCC cells after proton irradiation compared to X-irradiation. In the EVs, we found that protons cause a downregulation of proteins involved in cell growth and DNA damage response compared to X-rays. In the OSCC cells, proton and X-irradiation induced dissimilar cell death pathways and distinct DNA damage repair systems. These results are of potential importance for understanding how non-targeted effects in normal tissue can be limited and for future implementation of proton therapy in the clinic.

World Health Organization recommends adjusting the salt intake as a part of the nine global targets to reduce premature mortality from non-communicable chronic diseases as priority and most cost-effective intervention. In 2006. the main aim of the Croatian Action on Salt and Health was to decrease salt intake for 16% because of its critical intake and consequences on human health. We have organized educative activities for increasing awareness on salt harmfulness, defined food categories of prime interest, collaborate with industries and determine salt intake (24h urine-sodium excretion). It was determined that the proportion of salt in ready-to-eat baked bread should not exceed 1.4%. In the period 2014 –2022, salt in the semi-white bread was reduced 14%, in bakery 22% and in largest meat industry in Croatia 25%. Awareness of the harmfulness of salt on health increased from 65.3% in 2008 to 96.9% in 2023 and salt intake was reduced 15.9%-1.8 grams/day (22.8% men, 11.7% women). In last 18 years a significant decrease in salt intake was achieved in Croatia, awareness of its harmfulness increased, collaboration with food industry established and regulatory documents launched. However, salt intake is still very high underlying the need for continuation of efforts and even stronger activities.

We present the full case pictorial assay including preoperative imaging as well as the surgical correction of the uterine anomaly and associated complication of a very rare case of occult unicornuate right uterus with rudimentary non-communicating functioning left horn and its natural evolution following an initially incomplete surgical treatment.

Sweet cherry pomace is a by-product that can be a source of bioactive phenolic compounds. Usually, polyphenols have been extracted using conventional extraction methodologies. However, a significant fraction, called non-extractable polyphenols (NEPs), remains retained in the conventional extraction residues. Therefore, this work is aimed, for the first time, to investigate the release of NEPs from cherry pomace combining pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) and enzyme-assisted extraction (EAE) using Promod enzyme. A response surface methodology was employed to study the influence of temperature, time, and pH on the NEPs extraction. The response variables were the total phenolic content (TPC) measured by Folin-Ciocalteu method, total proanthocyanidin (PA) content evaluated by vanillin, DMAC, and butanol/HCl assays, and total antioxidant capacity determined by Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity and inhibition of hydroxyl radical assays. The results indicated that PLE-EAE was more suitable and selective to obtain NEPs from sweet cherry pomace than PLE alone. In fact, the extracts obtained by PLE-EAE displayed higher TPC, PA content, and bioactivity than the extracts obtained by PLE under the same extraction conditions, and those obtained by conventional methods. Moreover, size-exclusion chromatography profiles showed that the combination of PLE and EAE enabled the recovery of NEPs with higher molecular weight than PLE without EAE treatment.

Activating mutations in the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor gene occur as early cancer-driving clonal events in a subset of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and result in increased sensitivity to EGFR-tyrosine-kinase-inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs). Despite very frequent and often prolonged clinical response to EGFR-TKIs, virtually all advanced EGFR-mutated (EGFRM+) NSCLCs inevitably acquire resistance mechanisms and progress at some point during treatment. Additionally, 20-30% of patients do not respond or respond for a very short time (< 3 months) because of intrinsic resistance. While several mechanisms of acquired EGFR-TKI-resistance have been determined analyzing tumor specimens obtained at disease progression, the factors causing intrinsic TKI-resistance are less understood. However, recent comprehensive molecular-pathological profiling of advanced EGFRM+ NSCLC at baseline has illustrated the co-existence of multiple genetic, phenotypic, and functional mechanisms that may contribute to tumor progression and cause intrinsic TKI-resistance. Several of these mechanisms have been further corroborated by preclinical experiments. Intrinsic resistance can be caused by mechanisms inherent EGFR or by EGFR-independent processes, including genetic, phenotypic or functional tumor changes. This comprehensive review describes the identified mechanisms connected with intrinsic EGFR-TKI-resistance and differences and similarities with acquired resistance and among clinically implemented EGFR-TKIs of different generations. Additionally, the review highlights the need for extensive pre-treatment molecular profiling of advanced NSCLC for identifying inherently TKI-resistant cases and designing potential combinatorial targeted strategies to treat them.

Ferns and fern-allies, now known as Monylophytes, have received scant molecular attention, in relation to angiosperm group. The advent of high-throughput technologies allows to advance towards a greater knowledge of their elusive genome. In this work, samples of apogamous and sexual heart-shaped gametophytes from two ferns: the apomictic species Dryopteris affinis ssp. af-finisand its sexual relative Dryopteris oreades were extracted and identified. In total, a set of 218 proteins shared by these gametophytes were analysed by using the STRING database, and the proteome associated to metabolism, genetic information processing and responses to abitotic stress is discussed. Specifically, there are reported proteins involved in metabolism of carbohy-drates and lipids, biosynthesis of amino acids, metabolism of nucleotides, energy, and secondary compounds, oxido-reduction, transcription, translation, folding, sorting, and degradation, and response to abiotic stress. Some homologs of proteins found are MACCI-BOU (MAB1), MOSAIC DEATH 1 (MOD1), MAINTENANCE OF PHOTOSYSTEM II UNDER HIGH LIGHT 2 (MPH2), TRANSPARENT TESTA 5 (TT5), ALBINO OR GLASSY YELLOW 1 (AGY1), LEUCYL AMINOPEP-TIDASE 1 and 3 (LAP1 and LAP3), or LOW EXPRESSION OF OSMOTICALLY RESPONSIVE GENES 1 (LOS1). The interactome of the set of proteins was also studied, being the most common interac-tions database and textmining. All these data about the interactions that exist between the stud-ied proteins of the ferns D. affinis and D. oreades, together with the description of their biological function, might contribute to better understand the functioning and development of ferns as well as to fulfil gaps of knowledge in plant evolution.

This study presents a novel approach to analyzing the present value of total profit for non-participating and participating insurance policies in order to determine the optimal profitability of non-participating and participating insurance policies based on applying the approach used in operations research to the field of finance. As such, a comprehensive insurance product evaluation model was developed using both mathematical models and numerical analysis to evaluate the demand for non-participating and participating life insurance policies in response to changes in interest rates. The findings indicate that non-participating life insurance policies offer greater solvency for insurance companies compared to participating policies. The study also highlights the significance of spontaneous and induced demand in determining the total profit of both types of policies. The study concludes that life insurance companies should focus on generating spontaneous consumer demand, reducing induced demand, and implementing the optimal pricing strategy to achieve maximum profits.

Predicting the growth response of seedlings from the environmental responses of photosynthesis and metabolism may be improved by considering the dynamics of non-structural carbohydrate, NSC, over a diurnal cycle. Attenuation of growth metabolism when NSC content is low could explain why some NSC is conserved through the night. A dynamic model, incorporating diurnal variation in NSC, was developed to simulate growth of seedlings hour-by-hour. I compared predictions of this model to published growth and NSC data for seedlings that varied according to temperature, light, day length, or CO₂. Prolonged-darkness experiments showed a temperature dependent upper limit on the respiration capacity. Respiration was attenuated as NSC was depleted. Furthermore, when NSC was high at dawn, inhibition of photosynthesis could attenuate the accumulation of NSC under low temperature, or high light, or high CO₂. These concepts were used to simulate plant metabolism and growth rates and diurnal variation of NSC in tomato seedlings under two light levels and various temperatures. Comparison of other results using the same model parameters showed the dynamic model could predict results for starch and starch-less plants, and when growth was affected by CO₂ enrichment and day length.

Lambertianic acid (LA) is a biologically active compound from the leaves of Pinus koraiensis. In the present study, apoptotic mechanisms of LA plus TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) were elucidated in non-small cell lung cancer cells (NSCLCs). Cytotoxicity assay, flow cytometry, immunoprecipitation and Western blotting were performed. Here, combined treatment of LA and TRAIL increased cytotoxicity, sub-G1 population and cleaved poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) and caspase3/8/9 in A549 and H1299 cells compared to LA or TRAIL alone. Furthermore, combined treatment of LA and TRAIL significantly decreased anti-apoptotic proteins such as B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2), Fas-like inhibitor protein (FLIP) and X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP) and enhanced the activation of pro-apoptotic proteins Bid compared to LA or TRAIL alone. In addition, combined treatment of LA and TRAIL upregulated the expression of Death receptor 4 (DR4) and downregulated phosphorylation of nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (p-NF-B), inhibitory protein of kB family (p-IB) and FLIP in A549 and H1299 cells along with disrupted binding of XIAP with caspase3 or NF-B. Overall, these findings suggest that lambertianic acid enhances TRAIL-induced apoptosis via inhibition of XIAP/NF-B in TRAIL resistant NSCLCs.

Through a modern derivation of Planck's formula for the entropy of an arbitrary beam of photons we derive a general expression for the entropy production due to the irreversible process of the absorption of an arbitrary incident photon spectrum in material and its dissipation into an infrared-shifted grey-body emitted spectrum, the rest being reflected or transmitted. Employing the framework of Classical Irreversible Thermodynamic theory, we define the generalized thermodynamic flow as the flow of photons from the incident beam into the material and the generalized thermodynamic force is then just the entropy production divided by the photon flow which is the entropy production per unit photon at a given wavelength. We compare the entropy production under sunlight of different inorganic and organic materials (water, desert, leaves and forests) and show that organic materials are the greater entropy producing materials. Intriguingly, plant and phytoplankton pigments (including chlorophyll) have peak absorption exactly where entropy production through photon dissipation is maximal for our solar spectrum $430<\lambda<550$ nm, while photosynthetic efficiency is maximal between 600 and 700 nm. These results suggest that the evolution of pigments, plants and ecosystems has been towards optimizing entropy production rather than photosynthesis. We propose using the wavelength dependence of global entropy production as a biosignature for discovering life on planets of other stars.

In an industrial environment, the quality assurance of weld seams requires extensive efforts. The most commonly used methods for that are expensive and time-consuming destructive tests, since quality assurance procedures are difficult to integrate into production processes. Beyond that, available test methods allow only the assessment of a very limited set of characteristics. They are either suitable for determining selected geometric features or for locating and evaluating internal seam defects. The presented work describes an evaluation methodology based on microfocus X-ray computed tomography scans (µCT scans) which enable the 3D characterization of weld seams, including internal defects such as cracks and pores. A 3D representation of the weld contour, i.e., the complete geometry of the joint area in the component with all quality-relevant geometric criteria, is an unprecedented novelty. Both the dimensions of the weld seam and internal defects can be revealed, quantified with a resolution down to a few micrometers and precisely assigned to the welded component. On the basis of the methodology developed within the framework of this study, the results of the scans performed on the alloy AA 2219 can be transferred to other aluminum alloys. In this way, the data evaluation framework can be used to obtain extensive reference data for the calibration and validation of inline process monitoring systems employing Deep Learning-based data processing.

For the treatment of cancer and other diseases, therapeutic targeting of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) such as microRNAs (miRNAs) and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) is an attractive approach. RNA-based therapeutics have been extensively researched over the past decade, with antisense oligonucleotides and small interfering RNAs being the most commonly used. Some of these have even gained FDA approval. However, the results of trials have been mixed, with some studies reporting strong effects while others have shown limited effectiveness or toxicity. Alternative treatments, such as antimiRNAs, are currently in clinical trials. There is growing interest in the use of lncRNA-based therapies. This Perspective discusses the main challenges of ncRNA therapeutics, including specificity, delivery and tolerability. It also highlights emerging approaches that aim to improve their success.

Social media has become the most influential battleground for political and societal debate. The reach, the speed, and the fact that everybody can participate make this medium very popular but also highly manipulative, subject to biases and extremely precious to control. Misinformation spreads in an unforeseeable way. Sometimes it just follows usual non-malicious social interaction patterns, but often a targeted and designed-for-purpose manner. In this paper, we propose a novel method to identify the most effective opportunities to moderate the social media debate at a large scale using the properties of social signed graphs, such as structural balance. After building the topic universe for a particular political debate in a given time frame, we extract the most active and influential users and mine their position regarding the topic based on their interactions with other users. The result is a signed graph where each edge represents either support or challenge between a pair of users in the context of the topic. This graph can be modelled as an Ising model, with the goal of minimizing its energy state by using the advantages of Adiabatic Quantum Computing. Applying this principle, we use a Quantum Annealing implementation to solve the problem of finding the edges violating the structural balance of this graph, which in classic computing is known to be an NP-hard problem. We then provide a non-intrusive moderation technique for those violations to mitigate or increase the structural imbalance, depending on the desired strategy. The methodology is shown in the context of the COVID-19 skeptics’ debate in Twitter and implemented using a D-Wave 2000Q-6 quantum annealer.

Thalassemia is a heterogeneous congenital hemoglobinopathy common in the Mediterranean region, Middle East, Indian subcontinent, and Southeast Asia with increasing incidence in Northern Europe and North America due to immigration. Iron overloading is one of the major long-term complications in patients with thalassemia and can lead to organ damage and carcin-ogenesis. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignancies in both transfusion-dependent thalassemia (TDT) and non-transfusion-dependent thalassemia (NTDT). The incidence of HCC in patients with thalassemia has increased over time, as better chelation therapy confers a sufficiently long lifespan for the development of HCC. The mechanisms of iron overloading-associated HCC development include the increased　reactive oxygen species (ROS), inflammation cytokines, dysregulated hepcidin, and ferroportin metabolism. The treat-ment of HCC in patients with thalassemia was basically similar to those in general population. However, due to the younger age of HCC onset in thalassemia, regular surveillance for HCC development is mandatory in TDT and NTDT. Other supplemental therapy and experience of novel treatment for HCC in thalassemia population were also reviewed in this article.

Pesticides have a vital contribution to the agricultural industry in Australia. However, pesticide applications may not always selective to its target organism. Exposure to pesticide has been associated with negative impacts to human health. One of the ways to reduce pesticide risk to the population and the environment is through government regulations. To put Australia pesticide regulations into perspective, comparisons were made between Australia and other nation’s pesticides regulations. The EU pesticide regulatory system was chosen for comparison with the Australian’s in the aspect of protecting the population from pesticide exposure. The comparison showed that the assessment to authorize a pesticide in Australia is based on the risk while in the EU, the assessment is based on the hazard of the pesticide. A registered active substance in Australia can be authorized for use indefinitely unless it is nominated for reconsideration while the period of registration of an active substance in the EU lasts for 10 years. In addition, no routine systematic chemical residue surveys are conducted in Australia for food commodities. The results highlight areas for improvement in the Australian pesticide regulatory system from the perspective of controlling undue exposure among the general population.

Sugar-sweetened beverages are associated with metabolic dysfunction, particularly in those with increased risk factors. Artificial sweeteners (AS) are often promoted as a healthier alternative, yet findings remain conflicting as to their effects on metabolic function. Further, there is a lack of data exploring the interaction between AS and high-fat diets (HFD). We therefore examined the effects of HFD and the AS Acesulfame-potassium (Ace-K) on glucose intolerance and adipose tissue physiology in male and female C57BL/6 mice. 40 mice were randomised to receive either a) a control diet (CDCon; standard control diet/water), b) control diet and Ace-k (CDAS; CD/7.5mM AS in drinking water), c) HFD (HFCon; HFD (45%kcal from fat)/water), or d) HF and AS (HFAS; HFD/7.5mM AS in drinking water) for 6 weeks. A HFD increased body weight in male and female mice independently of AS supplementation. AS induced sex-specific effects protecting against HFD-induced hyperglycaemia and adipocyte hypertrophy in male mice and reducing inflammatory gene expression in the adipose tissue. Conversely in females, AS induced hyperinsulinemia in HFD mice and increased expression of immune-related genes. These findings suggest that supplementation of HFD with AS exacerbates metabolic dysfunction in female mice. This work supports the importance of studying sexually dimorphic responses to an altered nutritional environment and highlights the need for further investigation into the intake of AS, particularly in those already at risk of metabolic disease such as the obese or overweight.

A cuprous oxide (Cu₂O) thin layer served as the base for a non-enzymatic glucose sensor in an alkaline medium, 0.1 NaOH solution, with a linear range of 50-200 mg/dL using differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) measurement. An X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) study confirmed the formation of the cuprous oxide layer on the thin gold film sensor prototype. Quantitative detection of glucose in both phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) and undiluted human serum were carried out. Neither ascorbic acid nor uric acid even at a relatively high concentration level of 100mg/dL in serum interfered with the glucose detection, demonstrating the excellent selectivity of this non-enzymatic cuprous oxide thin layer based glucose sensor. Chronoamperometry (CA) and single potential amperometric voltammetry were used to verify the measurements obtained by differential pulse voltammetry (DPV), and the positive results validated that the detection of glucose in a 0.1 M NaOH alkaline medium by DPV measurement was effective. Nickel, platinum and copper are commonly used metals for non-enzymatic glucose detection. The performance of these metal-based sensors for glucose detection using DPV were also evaluated. Cuprous oxide (Cu₂O) thin layer based sensor showed the best sensitivity for glucose detection among the sensors evaluated.

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.

Abstract: Background: Non-invasive acquistion of beat-to-beat pulse transit time (PTT) via piezoelectric/piezocapacitive sensors (PES/PCS) may expand perioperative hemodynamic monitoring. This study evaluated the ability for PTT via PES/PCS to correlate with systolic, diastolic, and mean invasive blood pressure (SBPIBP, DBPIBP, and MAPIBP) and to detect SBPIBP fluctuations. Methods: PES/PCS and IBP measurements were performed in 20 patients undergoing abdominal, urological, and cardiac surgery. A Pearson’s correlation analysis (r) between 1/PTT and IBP was performed. The predictive ability of 1/PTT with changes in SBPIBP was determined by area under the curve (reported as AUC, sensitivity, specificity). Results: Significant correlations between 1/PTT and SBPIBP were found for PES (r=0.64) and PCS (r=0.55) (p<0.01), as well as MAPIBP/DBPIBP for PES (r=0.6/0.55) and PCS (r=0.5/0.45) (p<0.05). A 7% decrease in 1/PTTPES predicted a 30% SBPIBP decrease(0.82, 0.76, 0.76), while a 5.6% increase predicted a 30% SBPIBP increase (0.75, 0.7, 0.68). A 6.6% decrease in 1/PTTPCS detected a 30% SBPIBP decrease (0.81, 0.72, 0.8), while a 4.8% 1/PTTPCS increase detected a 30% SBPIBP increase (0.73, 0.64, 0.68). Conclusions: Non-invasive beat-to-beat PTT via PES/PCS demonstrated significant correlations with IBP and detected significant changes in SBPIBP. Thus PES/PCS as a novel sensor technology may augment intraoperative hemodynamic monitoring during major surgery.

The USDA-FSIS considers mechanically-tenderized beef as ‘non-intact’ and a food safety concern because of the potential for translocation of surface E. coli O157:H7 into the interior of the meat that may be cooked ‘rare or medium-rare’ and consumed. We evaluated 14 potential spray interventions on E. coli O157:H7-inoculated lean beef wafers (~10⁶ CFU/cm² , n=80) passing through a spray system (18 sec dwell time, ~40 PSI) integrated into the front end of a Ross TC-700MC tenderizer. Inoculated and processed beef wafers were stomached with D/E neutralizing broth and plated immediately, or were held in refrigerated storage for 1-, 7-, or 14 days prior to microbial plating. Seven antimicrobials that showed better performance in preliminary screening on beef wafers were selected for further testing on beef subprimals in conjunction with blade tenderization. Boneless top sirloin beef subprimals were inoculated at ~2 x 10⁴ CFU/cm² with a four-strain cocktail of Escherichia coli O157:H7 and passed once, lean side up, through an integrated spray system and blade tenderizer. Core samples obtained from each subprimal were examined for the presence/absence of E. coli O157:H7. Absence of E coli O157:H7 translocated into core samples correlated with the ability of the antimicrobials to reduce bacterial levels on the surface of beef prior to blade tenderization.

Non-compliant (NC) structures are often encountered in building construction in developing countries. This is a condition whereby erected buildings do not follow regulatory standards, especially in the provision of reinforcements. Therefore, under an earthquake load, the structures do not have sufficient resistance against such load. The structural elements of the building, which often have NC conditions, are the beam-column joints because they do not contain adequate shear reinforcements due to installation difficulty. This study aims to determine the structural performance of the reinforced concrete (RC) frame, which has a reinforcement deficiency in the beam-column joints. Numerical simulation was conducted on the Kakaletsis structure model by modifying the reinforcement details at the joints to represent the NC conditions. The non-linear modeling and analysis of the structural model were carried out using ATENA software. The analysis showed that the reduction in shear reinforcements in the NC model joint caused a decrease in load-carrying capacity by about 26.04%. A shift was also observed in the collapse pattern, i.e., from the beam to the end of the column, causing global failure and reducing the undamaged but increasing more severely damaged condition. This showed that the NC structure, due to the non-conformance of reinforcement, significantly reduced the structure's performance.

An exhaustive list of thirteen instances of reports confirming experimentally the relativistic Doppler relation, are examined. For those involving longitudinal Doppler, the non-relativistic relation is seen to be confirmed, within the reported experimental accuracies, to the same degree as the standard relativistic relation. Higher values of the speed of the emitter would be required to examine further the claimed confirmations. For those reports involving saturation spectroscopy, there is much confusion over the appropriate Doppler relation to be used, together with some serious analytical flaws. For the two cases that involve transverse Doppler, there are seen to be either serious faults in the theoretical part, or intrusion from the first order effect. Therefore, the reported conclusions - that the results for the experiments confirm the relativistic SR relation - cannot be justified by any of the experimental works.

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

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

Autoantibodies against specific lung cancer-associated antigens have been suggested for lung cancer diagnosis. This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of anti-gen-autoantibody immune complex (AIC) against its free antigens for CYFRA21-1, ProGRP, NGAL, and NSE in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In total, 85 patients with NSCLC and 120 healthy controls (HCs) were examined using a 9G DNA chip method. The ratios of AICs to their antigens and combinations of ratios consisting of two to four markers were calculated. The levels of AICs for CYFRA21-1, ProGRP, NGAL, and NSE were higher than their free antigens in all participants. The levels of each free antigen distinguished patients with NSCLC from HCs. The ratios of AIC to its antigen and seven combinations consisting of two to four ratios were significantly higher in patients with NSCLC than those in HCs. Excellent diagnostic performance was observed for all combination ratios (C4-1), with 85.9% sensitivity and 86.7% specificity at cutoff 3.51. Higher sensitivity was observed in the very early stages (0–I) and adenocarcinoma than in stages II–IV and other pathological types. The combination of all ratios of AICs and their antigens for all four markers is useful in the diagnosis of NSCLC.

This article develops duality principles and numerical results for a large class of non-convex variational models. The main results are based on fundamental tools of convex analysis, duality theory and calculus of variations. More specifically the approach is established for a class of non-convex functionals similar as those found in some models in phase transition. Finally, in the last section we present a concerning numerical example and the respective software.

Let $\mathbb{K}$ be a non-Archimedean (complete) valued field satisfying \begin{align*} \left|\sum_{j=1}^{n}\lambda_j^2\right|=\max_{1\leq j \leq n}|\lambda_j|^2, \quad \forall \lambda_j \in \mathbb{K}, 1\leq j \leq n, \forall n \in \mathbb{N}. \end{align*} For $d\in \mathbb{N}$, let $\mathbb{K}^d$ be the standard $d$-dimensional non-Archimedean Hilbert space. Let $m \in \mathbb{N}$ and $\text{Sym}^m(\mathbb{K}^d)$ be the non-Archimedean Hilbert space of symmetric m-tensors. We prove the following result. If $\{\tau_j\}_{j=1}^n$ is a collection in $\mathbb{K}^d$ satisfying $\langle \tau_j, \tau_j\rangle =1$ for all $1\leq j \leq n$ and the operator $\text{Sym}^m(\mathbb{K}^d)\ni x \mapsto \sum_{j=1}^n\langle x, \tau_j^{\otimes m}\rangle \tau_j^{\otimes m} \in \text{Sym}^m(\mathbb{K}^d)$ is diagonalizable, then \begin{align}\label{WELCHNONABSTRACT} \max_{1\leq j,k \leq n, j \neq k}\{|n|, |\langle \tau_j, \tau_k\rangle|^{2m} \}\geq \frac{|n|^2}{\left|{d+m-1 \choose m}\right| }. \end{align} We call Inequality (\ref{WELCHNONABSTRACT}) as the non-Archimedean version of Welch bounds obtained by Welch [\textit{IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, 1974}]. We formulate non-Archimedean Zauner conjecture.

Nonionizing millimeter-waves (MMW) interact with cells in a variety of ways. Here the inhibited cell division effect was investigated using 85-105 GHz MMW irradiation within the ICNIRP (International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection) non-thermal 20 mW/cm2 safety standards. Irradiation using a power density of about 1.0 mW/cm2 , SAR over 5-6 hours on 50 cells/μl samples of Saccharomyces cerevisiae model organism resulted in 62% growth rate reduction compared to the control (sham). The effect was specific for 85-105 GHz range, and was energy and cell density dependent. Irradiation of wild type and Δrad52 (DNA damage repair gene) deleted cells presented no differences of colony growth profiles indicating non-thermal MMW treatment does not cause permanent genetic alterations. Dose versus response relations studied using a standard horn antenna (~1.0 mW/cm2) and compared to that of a compact waveguide (17.17 mW/cm2) for increased power delivery resulted in complete termination of cell division via non-thermal processes supported by temperature rise measurements. We have shown that non-thermal MMW radiation has potential for future use in treatment of yeast related diseases and other targeted biomedical outcomes.

Nonionizing millimeter-waves (MMW) are reported to interact with cells in a variety of ways. Possible mechanisms of the inhibited cell division effect were investigated using 85-105 GHz MMW irradiation within the ICNIRP (International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection) non-thermal 20 mW/cm² safety standards. ~1.0 mW/cm² exposure over 5-6 hours treatment on 50 cells/μl samples of Saccharomyces cerevisiae model organism, resulted in 62% growth rate reduction compared to control (sham). The effect was specific for 85-105 GHz range and energy dose and cell density dependent. Irradiation of wild type and Δrad52 (DNA damage repair gene) deletion cells presented no differences of colony growth profiles indicating non-thermal MMW treatment does not cause genetic alterations. Dose versus response relations studied using a standard horn antenna (~1.0 mW/cm²) and compared to that of a compact waveguide (17.17 mW/cm²) for increased power delivery resulted in complete termination of cell division via non-thermal processes supported by temperature rise measurements. Combinations of MMW mediated Structure Resonant Energy Transfer (SRET), membrane modulations eliciting signaling effects, and energetic resonance with biomolecules were indicated to be responsible for the observations reported. Our results provide novel mechanistic insights enabling innovative applications of nonionizing radiation procedures for eliciting targeted biomedical outcomes.